The Calibur of Courage
by KingBowser444
Summary: The next installment of my "Dream Quest" series. When a cosmic event brings together several different heroes from different dimensions, they must all find a way to put aside their differences and work together to find a way out alive!
1. Whatever Can Go Wrong, Will Go Wrong!

**Author's Notes**

Alright everybody, let me give you a bit of background before anybody comes to me asking about "plot gaps". As you know, this is a sequel to the other Dream Quest stories, which exist in a series of stories that I've written over the years. The ones that are posted are Mortal Quest (story 4), Glory of the Hunt (story 5), and A Feudel Dream (story 7). This is story _9_. "Where are stories 6 and 8?", you may be wondering? Well, those were stories that I had a few ideas for, but I couldn't get the rest of the story laid out, so I put them on the scrapheap for now. However, there are a few references to them thoughout my other stories, such as the first part of this intro referencing the, as of now, unwritten story 8.

That all said, this story will be a crossover between several different games and Animes, some of which may be more well known than others. This intro consists of a bit of background on the characters, for those of you who may not know them, and telling how they all get into a bizarre predicament. So, without further adeu, I give you the latest Dream Quest adventure! Enjoy!

* * *

Dream Quest: The Calibur of Courage

Six months have passed since Onaga's attempt to conquer the Earth, and the planet, its cities, and its people are healing nicely; in particular, Matt discovered that his family and friends were not truly dead! Their "deaths" had been a conspiracy to get his undivided attention at an agency so secret, it didn't even exist. He found himself hard-pressed to do so, but Matt eventually, albeit with quite a few conditions, forgave the agency and his spirits soared to the level his family and friends had grown to expect and love.

Damages that were accumulated during the raging battles have been mostly repaired, thanks in part to some superhuman aid from the Masters. The Masters were forced to become stronger than ever in order to repel the sequential strikes by Mephisto and Onaga, and these new powers have helped them keep the planet a safer place since then. During the attacks, some of the original Masters came out of "retirement" and a couple of new allies were gained, making the Masters an even more potent force of good.

Ever since the attacks, and the repairs, things around Earth have been mostly peaceful, aside from the occasional petty theft or bank robbery, which were simple enough for the Masters to stop. As such, with D.C.'s anniversary rapidly approaching, Matt and D.C. decide to find the perfect gift for D.C.'s wife, Alisha. Matt:"So, what kinds of things were you thinking of getting her?" D.C.:"Chick things." "Well, duh," Matt said as he rolled his eyes. "I meant, what general area were you looking at? Jewelry? A reservation at a hot restaurant? A night flying above town with Tera Cooler..." D.C.:"Hey! I try to keep the super hero life separate from my family life when I can. But, that's not a bad idea; I never took her flying before... Still, I think that jewelry would be a good option as well."

Matt:"But, you don't want to spend an enormous amount of money, right?" D.C.:"Well, no. Unlike you, I wasn't declared legally dead two years ago and still have to worry about finances." After laughing for bit, Matt suggested, "Well, what if we could find some fine jewelry for free?" D.C.:"Alright, and where would we do that?" Matt:"Simple. We go treasure hunting in Other World. You have vacation days coming up at work, right?" D.C.:"Ok, I see where this is going. You want me to make my wife think that we're just going to be hanging out for a day, when really we're going to be going to Hyrule or Skyrim looking for treasure to make into jewelry?" Matt:"Yeah, that pretty much sums it up." D.C.:"Haha. You always have an idea of how to make things work in reality by dimension hoping into a fictional world. That's why I love you...in a non-gay way." Matt:"I thought we got over the 'in a non-gay way' thing years ago! Haha, whatever. Let's just get going as soon as we can, huh?"

So, the next day, D.C. waited for Matt to show up at his house on _Dragon Fire_, the motorcycle Matt built to be an improvement over the **Super Truck**. Soon, Matt arrived outside the house and the pair of heroes departed for Other World. When they arrived, they were in a wide open plain, with mountain ranges off in the distance in all directions. Matt:"Welcome to Skyrim, D.C. With any luck, we'll be able to delve into a dungeon or two, find some gold and jewels, and take them to an Argonian jeweler to make an awesome necklace for a minimal price." D.C.:"It'll be that simple, huh?" Matt:"Well, we may have to take out a bandit or two along the way, but, yeah, it should be reasonably simple to find what we need."

With that, Matt used his key chain to send Dragon Fire back home, and the two heroes set out upon the wide open plains of Skyrim. Soon, the two came upon a cave near a waterfall, and decided to investigate. When they got inside, they saw four dead bodies around what appeared to be a shrine to a deity. When they got close, they saw a journal, probably belonging to one of the deceased. After reading it, Matt said, "This says that divine wrath will fall upon those that disturb the shrine or steal treasure from here. Want to look somewhere else? I don't feel like having to pawn a false god today." With a laugh, D.C. smacked the statue on the shrine and said, "Yeah, alright. I think it would be a bit hard to explain to Alishia if I came back with a scar to two as well."

No sooner than D.C. hit the statue, a black hole appeared behind him and started to suck him in with the power of multiple tornadoes! D.C.:"Whoa, s &t!" D.C. started to use his telekinetic powers to float away from the portal that appeared, but was having minimal success. Matt reached out his hand to aid his friend, semi-transforming in the process to gain his superhuman abilities. Even with this tremendous strength increase, however, the two continued their path towards the portal. Matt grunted with effort as he pulled his friend away from the blackness, but he lost his grip on the cave floor and began to fly into the portal with D.C. Matt:"Whoa, no, S%&T!" The two heroes disappeared into the portal immediately afterwards.

Thankfully, Matt and D.C. appeared on the other side in one piece. Matt:"Well, at least that didn't work like my trip through the Infinity Vortex... But, still, where the f %k are we?" D.C.:"You're the dimension hopper, don't ask me!" "Funny," Matt said as he reverted to his human form. "More importantly, let's get back home, or at least back to Skyrim to get you a jewel or two to use." Matt pressed the button on his Keychain to summon Dragon Fire, but nothing happened! Matt:"Weird." Matt pressed the button a second time, but his bike still didn't appear. Matt:"Ok, _now_ I'm a bit worried. Wherever we are, my bike doesn't know how to find us. But, that shouldn't be right...my bike can find everything from our world to every world beyond it!"

D.C.:"I knew this was a bad idea. Only you could find a way to make a simple errand turn into a life or death situation by sending us to a place that we can't escape from!" Matt:"Bite me, D.C.! If I recall, _you_ were the one that smacked the statue bringing 'divine wrath' upon us. But, I don't think that's what really happened; wherever we are, it seems to be in line with the current year in our world." D.C.:"You're right, those skyscrapers look a bit too advanced for the likes of Skyrim's people **or** their deities."

His eyes getting wider, D.C. added, "You know, I just thought of something. You said that Dragon Fire could find anything from our world and beyond. What if we somehow wound up in a world made _before_ ours!" Matt:"What, you mean we could have wound up in 'Dimension 0' or something?" D.C.:"You got a better idea?" Matt:"Well, as unlikely as that sounds, that's also probably the only logical explanation. But, that would mean this is God's 'Forge of Creation' or something!" D.C.:"Well, if that is the case, we must have been sent or called here for a reason; you are 'The Soldier of Heaven' after all." Matt:"I did give myself that title, didn't I? Well, it seems quite apparent that Dragon Fire can't reach us here. So, if we are going to get home, we're going to have to find another way." D.C.:"No rest for the best of the best, eh?" After laughing for a moment, Matt replied, "That's always the way it goes, isn't it? Well, we won't get anywhere standing around here; we'll just have to look around the old fashioned way for now..."

* * *

In the distant future of Other World, sometime in the 2200's to be exact, three warriors were sitting in a transport ship, anxiously waiting for their arrival at their home base; they had just finished a mission that called them away from home, and, consequently, away from some close friends. The warriors were robots, but they were a fantastic type of robot: one that could think, feel, and act for itself; robots that were more human than machine, possessing free will! The ex-facto leader of the three was covered with blue armor, with black under armor covering the exposed areas of his arms, legs, and torso. His dearest friend, called by his compatriots 'The Crimson Hunter' was donned in, as his nickname implied, crimson red armor. Unlike his friend, he specialized in close range combat, armed with a beam saber instead of an arm blaster. The third of the group, also the youngest, was built of mostly black armor, with dark grey under armor covering the exposed areas of his body.

Within a few minutes, the captain of the drop ship announced over the ships communications, "Attention, Hunters! We will be arriving at Maverick Hunter Headquarters in just a few minutes!" Megaman X, or "The Blue Bomber" as he was sometimes called, breathed a sigh of relief; it was good to be home. Zero, his scarlet armored best friend, shared the sentiment; after keeping the world safe for more than 200 years, they needed a break from all the uprisings that were taking place. The worst part of their most recent mission was the fact that they were betrayed by the commanding officer of their far off mission, Colonel Redips! Having to destroy your commanding officer, then nearly burn up in the Earth's atmosphere, wasn't what Zero called a "dream vacation". Axl, the youngest member of the three, was somewhat indifferent to coming home; sure, it was good to be home, but he was, self-admittedly, happiest on the battlefield going guns-akimbo on Mavericks.

After a couple of minutes, X activated the communications module on his helmet. X:"Hunter Base, do you copy?" Zero and Axl looked at X with slightly bewildered looks on their faces; they were going to be home in a few minutes, why was he bothering to contact the base when they knew that on their end as well? Through the module, X heard a familiar female voice say, "Hunter Base, this is Alia." When his friends saw X get a somewhat sappy smile on his face, they immediately knew what his real goal was. X:"Just calling to let you know we'd be back a few minutes." With a brief chuckle, X's primary navigator, Alia, said, "We can see you on the sensors, you know. But, its good to hear from you, X. It's been a while." X continued his conversation with his friend, while shooting his other friends an irritated look; while he was chatting with Alia, Zero was making kissy faces at him while Axl made a mocking swoon imitation. It became painfully apparent to X that his friends knew something that he hadn't explicitly told them: he had a bit of a crush on Alia.

With docking imminent, X cut his conversation with Alia short and waited for the ship to finish the docking process. As the trio walked down the main corridor to the docking bay, X's pacifistic nature began to reach its breaking point; his friends continued to ride him about his upcoming reunion. X:"Will you guys give it a rest!" As his friends returned to their usual composure, X added, "I haven't even told her yet, so lay off!" Zero:"And _that_ is why I'm giving you such a hard time! You've known her for nearly 200 years, and you still haven't had the courage to say three simple words. We killed Sigma ten times and you never backed down during any of those battles! What makes this so different?" X sighed, knowing that on some level his best friend was right, but all the same he retorted with, "Yeah, well, I've seen how you look at Layer; you've known her for nearly 100 years and yet you're still 'Single' like me." "He has a point there, Zero. Looks like you both have some 'work' to do," Axl teased his two friends. Zero opened his mouth to say something in reply, but immediately shut it, as no words came to mind. Seeing that he had struck a painful nerve his friends, Axl suggested, "Alright, let's just drop it for now. We have to go meet them to report on our recent mission anyway."

So, the three heroes went towards the war room of the Maverick Hunter Base. Once there, they were greeted by the head commander of the Hunter Base, Signas. Signas:"Well, if it isn't our class S operatives! It's good to see you're back from Giga City." After turning towards the navigators control booth, Signas added, with a wink, "It hasn't quite been the same around here without you guys." They were oblivious to Signas's meaning with the last comment, but headed in that direction anyway.

After climbing the steps to the booth, the three of them noticed their respective navigators, hard at work. X walked over to the female Reploid with blonde hair, dressed in pink armor; his secret crush, Alia. As he walked up behind her, staring over her shoulder with remote curiosity as to what she was working on, she suddenly said, without looking up, "Do you know how hard it is to concentrate on my work with you looking over my shoulder, X?" X:"How did you know it was me?" Alia:"Well, for one, I saw you three come in as soon as you arrived. Second, I'm your navigator; it's my job to know where you are at all times." X nervously put his hand behind his helmet, mimicking a man scratching the back of his head. With a softer, less professional sounding tone, Alia finished, "And third, I've kind of missed somebody actually caring about my work."

While the two of them got reacquainted, Zero and Axl struggled not to laugh at X and embarrass him. Zero walked over towards the dark skinned female Reploid with purple hair, dressed in somewhat risque white armor; Layer, the first girl since Iris, who was unfortunately killed during the fourth Maverick uprising, to catch Zero's eye. Layer looked back at the crimson hunter, trying desperately to hide her blushing, and said, "Welcome back, Zero. I trust your mission was successful?" Zero:"Depends on how you look at it..." He started to report his mission details to Layer, who listened attentively, typing every last detail into the mission computer. Simply having Zero nearby made Layer's face become flushed; for her it was "love at first sight", but much like X and Zero, she couldn't find the words or the courage to tell her significant other what she felt.

Across the room from the other two pairs, Axl approached his navigator; the short, energetic Reploid named Palette. Unlike his two friends, Axl sought to keep his relationship with the green-armored girl strictly professional, while simultaneously getting along with her as a dear friend. Palette:"Find any research on your Copy Chip while in Giga City?" Axl:"Not nearly as much as I'd hoped, and more than I hoped to find at the same time..." He reported his mission outcome to his navigator, finishing at roughly the same time as X and Zero. Alia:"Sorry to make you guys report the second you got back. I can only imagine how beat you guys are." Signus suddenly came into the navigator's booth and said, "And that is precisely why they have the rest of the day off; I want the three of you to go to your quarters and spend at least 8 hours in your recharge pods." With a sigh of relief, the three Maverick Hunters headed to their quarters and immediately powered down.

The next day, sixteen hours later, X awoke feeling much more energetic than he had when he got back from Giga City. He hadn't planed on sleeping quite that long, but he really needed the break. He walked out to Observation Deck 2, his favorite spot to go sit and think. He stood leaning along the railing, contemplating the conversation he and Zero had the previous day. He liked Alia, and she seemed to like him back, at least as a close friend, but how could he convey what he was thinking to her? Zero was right about one thing: facing a whole army of Maverick Reploids seemed easier than what he was running through his mind right now.

It was about then Zero joined him on the balcony and stood next to him. X:"So, you thinking about our conversation yesterday as much as me?" Zero:"Yeah. I wasn't trying to make you meltdown, I was just trying to motivate you to tell her before its too late. Don't do like I did with Iris; don't wait until she's dying in your arms or until you're ready to go to the scrapheap before you tell her. You don't have to worry about embarrassing yourself; I can tell that she cares about you, more than she let's on." X:"And I can see Layer blushing whenever you get within fifty feet of her." Coming up behind the two of them, Axl said, "So, what's taking the two of you so long? Go get your girls, you idiots!" X and Zero looked at one another and just started laughing. X:"You know, Axl, you're right about one thing: we are stupid." The three of them laughed even harder than before.

They were about to continue their conversation when a black hole appeared off the balcony and started to drag them towards it! Zero:"Where the heck did that come from!" Axl:"You got me, but I think the more pressing question is 'How are we going to avoid it?'!" The force of the portal had already pulled Axl off the floor, causing him to fly in the opposite direction he wanted to. Zero:"AXL!" He reached out and grabbed his friend's hand in an effort to save him, but soon found himself in a similar predicament; the only thing holding him and Axl away from the portal was the railing of the balcony, and Zero could feel his grip slipping!

The two noticed as X's appearance changed, summoning one of his various armor systems. X's current armor, the Commander Armor as he called it, was the final, permanent upgrade given to him by his creator, Dr. Light. The armor stored the data for many of the other armor systems he had used in his previous missions. Each armor had its own strengths and weaknesses, but since the Commander Armor could summon the armor systems at will, X was ready for any situation! Equipping himself with the Gaea Armor, a very heavy, but not very mobile, armor, X grabbed Zero's arm and started to pull against the portal's strength.

Despite the increased weight, X soon found himself rising off the floor of the balcony as well! X:"I...can't...hold on!" His armor had superior griping ability, so X managed to stop their flight by grabbing onto the railing Zero had been holding onto, but he quickly realized that the tighter he held on, the stronger the portal's pull became! Several other Maverick Hunters arrived at the scene at about that same time; the trio's desperate battle against the portal's pull had begun before operation hours of the Base, so there were very few people to help them until right then! X looked up and caught sight of Alia in the back of the crowd, with a horrified look on her face; it was right then X's grip faltered! X:"NOOOOOO!" The three Class S Maverick Hunters flew into the awaiting portal, which promptly closed behind them!

No sooner had she witnessed X and the others fly into the portal, Alia ran to find the other navigators and rushed to her navigation console on the double. On the other end of the portal, the Maverick Hunters appeared with no damages. As the Gaea Armor disappeared, reverting X to has normal appearance, he said, "You guys alright?" Zero:"Yeah, it'll take more than a trip like that to take me down, buddy!" Axl:"I'm fine, too. But, do either of you know where we are? I've never seen buildings like this!"

At about that moment, X heard in his helmet, "X! X! Come in! Do you read?" X:"Alia! Yeah, I'm here. So are Zero and Axl. We're not sure where we are, but we're fine." Breathing a sigh of tremendous relief, Alia continued, "Good to hear, but I can't see you on my navigation console! Wherever you guys are, it isn't on Earth!" X:"It sort of looks like we've gone back in time or something; I haven't seen buildings of this style for nearly 200 years! If that's the case, though, I'm surprised that our communications aren't being interrupted, not that I'm complaining they still work." Alia:"This is no time to joke, X. We can't see any of you guys, and who knows how long our communications link will stay open?" "It's now or never, then," X thought to himself before saying, "I don't know what the deal here is, Alia, but before the communications decide to stop on us, I need to ask you something..." Alia was slightly shocked at the request, simply replying, "What?" X:"I know that you've always done this as part of your job as my navigator, but I'm asking you to do this now as my friend: wait for me." Alia:"W..wait for you?" X:"Yeah. We'll find a way home before you know it, and when we do...there's something that I want to talk to you about. Provided the communication holds out, I'll give you updates to our current situation, but until then, just wait and wish me luck." With a slightly nervous tone, Alia replied, "Alright, X. Good luck." X:"X out." Once communications were cut, Alia added silently, "If you get hurt out there when there isn't a thing I can do for you, I'll kill you myself, X!"

At the same time, Layer had been frantically calling Zero. Zero finally replied, "What is it, Layer?" Layer:"How can you be so calm right now? Alia told us that you guys were sucked into a black hole!" Zero:"Yeah, about that. Whatever that portal was, it sent us somewhere into the past or something; my map sensor is saying that we're right in front of the balcony, but the building that we're near is most certainly _not_ Maverick Hunter Headquarters." Layer:"If you guys really were sent into the past, then our communications could falter at any moment!" Zero:"Well, if that does happen, I want you to do something for me." Layer:"What?" Zero:"Don't panic. X and I have been through some serious business before, and not knowing where we are for a moment doesn't really qualify. We'll find a way home soon, and when we do, well, I'll tell you then. But for now, just wish me luck, like always." Layer tried desperately to hid the worry in her voice as she spoke, "Good luck, Zero." Zero:"Stop worrying already! Zero out."

Axl's dialogue with Palette was short and sweet, and certainly didn't contain any "hints"; he merely explained the current situation, and she said, "Good luck." Once his compatriots chats were over, Axl face-palmed in their direction saying, "I can't believe that _now_, when we're trapped in time, with no immediate escape route, you guys decide to confess to your navigators!" X:"We didn't really confess. Besides, it seemed like a 'now or never' thing to me. But, that's beside the point; right now, the three of us need to find a way home, or at least someone who is more native to this place than us who can point us in the right direction." Zero:"Agreed. We don't know how long communications with Hunter Base will function, and our navigators can't help us anyway. We're on our own, so we better start walking..."

* * *

In yet another universe, sounds of supernatural combat could be heard coming from a convenience store. Or, more accurately, about half a mile _underneath_ of that convenience store. On that battlefield, a man wearing a white and green striped hat, a black coat, and clogs was training a young protege to regain his lost powers. The protege was a teenager a bit less than 6 feet tall with bright orange hair. As far as the teenager was concerned, this was "training from Hell", but it would soon be worth it. He had lost his powers after being attacked by a much stronger opponent, and in regaining his powers, he would be strong enough to rescue a friend who was taken captive by that same opponent.

Through this rigorous training regiment that couldn't have come from anywhere but the deepest pits of the underworld, Ichigo Kurosaki had regained his Soul Reaper powers. His friend, Rukia, who was in need of rescuing, had been taken back to the Soul Society. Unfortunately, Ichigo was unable to simply charge into battle, like he wanted too. There was only one way in or out of the Soul Society, a special gate called a "Senkaimon". His current mentor, Kisuke Urahara, had the means to open one, but it would take a couple of days. This meant, of course, that Ichigo would have to be patient and wait until Urahara opened the gate.

Being patient wasn't one of Ichigo's strongest suits, but at the moment, he had very little other choice if he was going to storm the Soul Society and rescue his friend. So, albeit with some reluctance, Ichigo was sent home by Urahara to rest up before the big battle. As Ichigo leaped across Karakura Town towards his home, he suddenly started to think about all the people he'd be leaving behind to go to the Soul Society.

The first one who came to mind was his friend, Chad. Ichigo smiled fondly thinking of his gigantic friend; Chad was easily a foot taller than he was, but he was so gentile that he wouldn't hurt a fly. It was partly because of this, that Chad would never fight back against anybody who was attacking him. Ichigo first noticed this trait about him when Chad saved him from having his ass royally kicked by a group of bullies in Junior High; after Chad had knocked the guy beating Ichigo (while that guy's friends held Ichigo still) away, they turned on him instead. But, Chad didn't fight back; he just let them pound on him until they got tired of it and left.

When Ichigo had asked him about it, Chad simply said that he had promised Abuelo to not fight for his own sake; Chad had been a bad kid at one point, when he still lived in Mexico, but his grandfather helped turn him around. Abuelo had given Chad a Mexican coin as a charm to help keep his "large body and strong fists" under control; Chad at one point said that this coin was worth more than his own life. The coin was stolen by a group of bullies, who threatened to drop it in a river, until Ichigo came to save him. Afterwards, the two teens made a promise to each other; Chad would stay the same, not fighting back for his own sake, but if there was something Ichigo felt was worth giving his life for, Chad would back him up, with Ichigo would do the same in return.

Ichigo's thoughts then moved to his family; his younger twin sisters, Yuzu and Karin, and his father, Isshin. He had lost his mother at a very young age; at first he blamed himself for getting her killed trying to save him from falling in a river, but in reality, a powerful Hollow called "Grand Fisher" was responsible. Ichigo's near-permanent frown deepened for a moment as he recalled his burning desire to pay the evil Hollow back in kind. Since that day, he resolved to stay strong and be a protector of his family. He cared for his sisters deeply; Ichigo chuckled for a moment before thinking that he _supposed_ he cared for his father as well. Isshin Kurosaki made it a never-ending quest of his to catch Ichigo off-guard with an attack. Thus far, Ichigo had managed to derail all of his dad's attempts. Though it annoyed him to no end, he supposed that these non-stop attacks had helped to sharpen his senses to near superhuman levels, becoming that much more potent when he transformed into a Soul Reaper.

Uryu Ishida came to his mind next. Although he'd only known the Quincy for a short time, and Uryu had sworn to be his enemy for life, Ichigo couldn't help but realize that despite their numerous differences, he could count on Uryu to have his back, and Uryu could expect the same in return. Ichigo laughed when he thought of Uryu's exceptional sewing skills; a rather odd thing for a male to be good at, but Uryu could easily put 100 year old grandmothers in their place with his level of skill.

A dear friend of his, Tatsuki, entered his mind next. The ultimate tomboy, Tatsuki was a black belt in martial arts, kept her hair short, and had a rather...unrefined way of speaking. All the same, she'd helped him come out of his shell when he was a small child, and had been a very close friend ever since. She had provided comfort, what little he would allow to seep through the "Iron Curtain" he'd placed around his heart, after his mother's death. But, most of all, he liked how she would keep him in line; if he ever got out of line, he would promptly be on the receiving end of a roundhouse kick, or something of the sort.

Finally, Ichigo's thoughts moved to the person he imagined he'd miss the most; Orihime Inoue. They had met under unfortunate circumstances when they were twelve; Orihime's brother, Sora, had just been hit by a car. She tried desperately to get him to a hospital, but the closest place she could find was Ichigo's house, which also served as a small clinic. They were unable to help Sora, and he died that same day. At the time, Ichigo didn't know that it was her, but came to realize it once they got to Junior High; she was the only other person Ichigo was aware of, besides his own mother, who had a hair color that was similar to his own.

She was good friends with Tatsuki, and was formally introduced to Ichigo through her. At first, Ichigo was determined to uphold his reputation of being a tough guy; he was cordial, saying "Hi." in the hallway and home room and the lot, but did little else. "But," Ichigo thought to himself, "she was quickly able to see though that facade." After she subtly told him he didn't need to act so tough all the time, he softened a bit, but only when she was around. His scowl remained everlasting, but she was able to get rare smiles out of him with her bubbly, sweet personality and her...interesting imagination.

Once they reached High School, they shared several classes, but Ichigo remained aloof, mostly because she'd hang out with Tatsuki and several other girls at school. Despite himself, he'd glance in her direction a few times, and her chipper face would almost never fail to, ever so briefly, melt his frown away. More recently, shortly after gaining his Soul Reaper powers the first time, he'd rescued her from Sora, who'd lost himself and become a Hollow. It was at that moment, Ichigo felt himself starting to look at her a bit differently; she remained the kind person that he'd always seen, but a bit of inner strength showed a bit more clearly, rather than her always, seemingly, hiding behind Tatsuki. Her personality was becoming more effective at melting through his barriers, and he begin to notice her rather filled out figure; she was an attractive level of thin, but if you looked higher, you'd immediately see her gigantic... Ichigo shook his head vigorously to force the increasingly "R rated" thought from his teenage mind; she was a dear friend, a _nakama_, nothing more...right?

It was at this point he noticed that he was getting closer to his home, closer to his bed. He hadn't wanted to admit it, but reminiscing on the past, in addition to his training, had brought out a great fatigue. He sobered up considerably when he noticed a black hole suddenly appear right in his path! Ichigo didn't know what this meant for him, but whatever it was, it couldn't be good! Ichigo reached behind him and unsheathed his Zanpakto, Zangetsu. Ichigo:"Getsuga Tensho!" A beam of pure energy emerged from his sword and plowed into the portal. Ichigo's effort to destroy, or close prematurely, the portal failed; and since it appeared right in his path, he had no time to change his direction! Ichigo was sucked into the portal and emerged on the other side in a place that most certainly was not his home town. Ichigo observed his surroundings with a tinge of worry, however, he observed equally quickly that worrying about what had just happened wouldn't change things. Ichigo thought to himself, steeling his resolve, "I don't know what just happened, but _nothing_ is going to stop me from finding a way out of here!" At this point, all he could do was sheath Zangetsu and walk down the path before him...

* * *

In still another universe, two people were practicing swordplay in the courtyard of a Japanese mansion. One was a red haired boy and his tutor was a blonde woman. The boy was trying desperately to learn how to use a sword, or any weapon for that matter, more properly so he could aid, or as he preferred, replace her in battle situations. The girl was far superior in skill than he was, and she made that painfully obvious; at every attempt to engage her, with wooden practice swords, of course, she'd knock him on his ass within one or two swings of her sword.

Although she was trying to keep her cool, Saber continued to get more and more irritated with her Master, Shiro. Saber:"Shiro. I understand your desire to follow in your father's footsteps as a hero of men, but that same desire has made you completely irrational! My sole reason for existing in this world right now is to fight in the Holy Grail War and achieve the Holy Grail, but you are essentially forbidding me from doing so! I do not require your protection, as I'm sure you can plainly see." Shiro looked up his blonde servant and stated confidently, "I know you don't need my protection, but I can't help it. I don't like seeing people get hurt, especially women, when I can do something about it! That's what heroes of the people do; they defend those who cannot defend themselves!" Saber's irritation reached a new high, as she let out a seething groan. Saber:"I've told you already that I am a Servant first, and a woman second! You're efforts to 'protect' me have gotten you nearly killed on more than one occasion! I've told you repeatedly that if another Servant or Master confronts you, you are to summon me immediately, not try to fight them off yourself! How you've managed to come back from these idiotic attempts is beyond me!"

Shiro smiled sheepishly on the floor of the training dojo in his back yard. She was right in one regard; he probably should have been killed a couple of times, but something was causing his wounds to heal abnormally fast. He wasn't sure if it was Saber's mana that was sustaining him or what, but something was keeping him dying. Saber calmed slightly and finished, "I don't mind teaching you swordplay for last resort situations, but this is war, Shiro, whether you want to admit it or not. I am a soldier in that war, you are my commander; but a commander that is not willing to fight cannot win!" Shiro:"Saber, we've been over this. I don't like causing people pain or killing them. I know this is a war, Saber, but I want to avoid conflict as much as I can. And when conflict comes, I don't want to see you get hurt on my behalf." Saber's rage flared again; even if he wasn't trying to do so deliberately, his patronizing speech about 'women shouldn't be in combat' was _really_ beginning to annoy her.

She was bound to Shiro by a pact made between Master and Servant, but given his pacifistic nature, she often found herself wondering why she had been picked for his Servant. He didn't want to fight and knew very little, if any, magic. As such, his lack of magical ability meant that she couldn't replenish her mana quickly after battles; this combined with Shiro's unwillingness to let her fight, meant that it was a long while before she saw battle. Patience, when it came to waiting to strike, or for her enemies to strike first, was not in Saber's mind set. However, for as annoying as Shiro's behavior was to her, Saber couldn't help but admire him for it as well; he would have made a fine diplomat in ancient times, or a benevolent ruler. But, at the moment, all Saber could do was hope that after soundly defeating him so many times, it would convince Shiro to give up in his attempts to keep her safe, and let her fight.

Saber's mannerisms relaxed again before she said, "I'm sorry, Shiro. I know that as your Servant I shouldn't be talking so out of turn with you." Shiro sighed before replying, "Saber, you may be a Servant, but I consider you a friend above all else. I respect your opinion; I know that one-on-one I'm no match for a Servant, but I still don't like seeing you, or anybody else for that matter, get hurt." Shiro paused for a moment before finishing, "Let's break for now and get some food and rest. But I'm not giving up; I'm determined to learn how to use a sword." Saber couldn't help but laugh at her Master's enthusiasm; she'd pummeled him into submission so many times during their "training", but he still refused to learn. "Oh, well," she thought. "I'll just have to keep _convincing_ him."

The left the dojo and began to walk towards the main house, when a black hole suddenly opened up in front of them! Shiro:"Saber! Stay back!" Saber ignored her Master, summoning her armor and prepared to fight whatever emerged from this portal. To their surprise, nothing came out of the portal; instead, it started to pull them into it! Shiro flew off the ground first, but Saber caught him in the air and started to struggle against the portal's strength in the opposite direction. Being a Servant, she was much stronger than a typical human, but even her strength was proving to be useless against the ridiculously strong pull the portal mustered. She soon felt herself floating through the air and became enveloped in blackness!

She and Shiro emerged on the other side of the portal unharmed. Shiro:"Thanks for catching me, Saber." Saber turned on her heel towards her Master, irritation evident in her eyes. Saber:"For what little good it did us! Whatever that portal was, it sucked both of us up into it! My strength was nothing compared to it!" Shiro:"Look, Saber, calm down! We may not be at my home like we should, but we are still alive. We can still find a way back, but in order to do that, we're going to have to work together and figure this out!" Saber's armor disappeared and she reverted to her regular clothing. Saber:"Yes, you are quite right, Shiro. I lost my head for a moment, but there is little we can do about our current situation than move forward." Shiro:"That's the Saber I know! We better get moving; I've got a feeling that this isn't going to be a simple walk in the park..."

* * *

In still another cosmos, a voluptuous, dark-haired woman sat in her apartment, pondering the events of her day. It started like any other day; she got up, got ready for her work as a super model, did some, occasionally seductive, poses for the camera, and returned home. However, as of late, she's had a side job; she wasn't sure whether or not she should be proud of the work she did at this job or not. A cruel twist of fate, in her mind anyway, had made her into a monster; she had latent supernatural abilities that only recently surfaced, and it was causing her to get some very unwanted attention.

Jun Fudo sat looking out the glass door to her apartment's balcony, reflecting on what this bizarre turn of events had meant for her. She was, rather forcefully, recruited into a secret organization, called the "Human Alliance", a short time ago. In the short period of time that passed from her recruitment, she was forced to kill three other creatures like herself; Devil Beasts. Unlike the vast majority of Devil Beasts which currently existed in the world, Jun was able to hold onto her human consciousness; this meant that she wasn't a mindless killer, and would only kill in self-defense. However, this didn't stop Lan Asuka, the Human Alliance's leader, from forcing her into situations she didn't approve of. Her "job", if you could call it that, was to find and eliminate Devil Beasts that were targeting and killing humans. Since she would accompany Asuka into suspected areas, they would be attacked by the hostile Beast, forcing Jun to transform into her Devil Lady form to keep her and Asuka from being killed.

While her human side remained intact, Jun could feel herself change, not just physically, when she became Devil Lady; her personally became much more boisterous and violent. It almost got to the point where she _enjoyed_ killing her enemies. When she would change back to herself, Jun broke down into tears, frightened by how much she seemed to enjoy herself while in combat. Jun smiled briefly, still locked in her thoughts, "I suppose that is on only real downside to it." Her personality would be altered, but she was slowly beginning to get a handle on it. In addition, she possessed greatly amplified strength, speed, durability, enhanced senses, and she healed very quickly. Her enhanced senses and healing carried over to her regular, human form as well.

Jun frowned as she thought of a little boy she meant in a tunnel while walking home a couple of nights ago. He seemed to be aware that she was Devil Lady, and was sending more Beasts after her. He had called her "a traitor to her own kind". In a way, Jun thought, he was right. She was killing off other Devil Beasts like herself, but she had sworn to use her powers to protect humanity; her own humanity was her most precious possession.

The only thing more precious to Jun than her own humanity was her friend, Kazumi. Kazumi was the sister Jun never had, and her being a Devil Beast was changing Kazumi's life, and not in a good way. The boy Jun saw had sent a Devil Beast to kill Kazumi and her family; Jun was able to make it in time to save Kazumi, but her parents were brutally murdered. Since that night, Kazumi had been staying with Jun. Jun absolutely abhorred having to lie to her, but she also felt that Kazumi knowing the truth about her would not only freak her out, but cause Kazumi to hate her; on a nightly basis, she would go out with the Human Alliance to hunt down rouge Beasts. Jun didn't know what she would do if Kazumi ever found out she was a killer, but she had a feeling that if that ever happened, the tenuous hold she had on her human side would surely shatter.

Jun was suddenly snapped from her dreary thoughts by the sound of the front door opening. Looking in the door's direction, Jun caught sight of her young friend and smiled. She and Kazumi meant initially a couple of years ago when Kazumi entered the wrong room at a modeling audition. Though Jun felt she wasn't "idol material", Kazumi disagreed, and immediately asked her for modeling advice; they were like sisters ever since.

Kazumi walked in, half expecting Jun to not be there, but was very pleasantly surprised to see Jun sitting at the table near the sliding glass door. Kazumi:"Hey, Jun! I'm surprised to see you here. Usually, you'd be going off to that other job you have by now..." Jun:"Yes, it seems that I have the night off for once; I just hope they don't call in the meantime. How was the shoot?" Kazumi:"Oh, the usual. I got there, dressed up all nice and sexy, posed for a bit, and that was it." Jun couldn't help but laugh; seeing Kazumi happy again after her parents' deaths meant to the world to her. Kazumi:"Anyway, it was pretty hot on the set and I feel disgusting. I'm gonna hope in the shower." Jun:"Alright. If I don't get called out in the meantime, we'll get something to eat when you're done!" Kazumi:"Oh, that would be AWESOME, Jun!" Kazumi began to hum happily at the thought of getting to actually spend time with her "sister" this evening, and headed for the bathroom.

Jun felt herself starting to smile as well. She really needed Kazumi; to her, Kazumi was the only thing that kept her human. Jun walked out onto the balcony of her apartment to get a breath of fresh air while she waited for Kazumi to finish. That was when her night flipped upside down; no sooner had she gone outside, out of Kazumi's ear shot, a black hole appeared off of her balcony! Jun's eyes became wide with worry; not for herself, but if this portal were to destroy her home as well, what would happen to Kazumi! However, strangely enough, the force the portal was generating was only focused on her; the door to the balcony remained stationary, the table inside the doorway stayed on the floor, and Kazumi was safe in the bathroom, humming a happy tune as she cleaned up.

As Jun cling to the railing of her balcony, she resisted the urge to scream for help, and the even stronger urge to change into Devil Lady. Jun figured the only chance she would have to escape this anomaly would be to call upon Devil Lady's strength; she immediately squashed this thought when another struck her: if Kazumi came out in the meantime to see her in Beast form, it would be awkward, to put it mildly in the extreme. So, in a matter of a few more moments, Jun's grip on the railing was broken, and she flew into the blackness that awaited her. She emerged on the other side without a scratch, much to her own surprise. The portal closed behind her and Jun looked around her surroundings. She was in unfamiliar territory, and her senses were going into overdrive. Jun got a very bad feeling; in the history of her having bad feelings, this one was the worst. Would she be able to make it back to her precious Kazumi? Would she be able to find a way back home without getting killed in this, apparently, unpopulated world she currently found herself in?

Jun tried to calm herself, but to no avail; her enhanced Beast senses were picking up the smell of a powerful presence. Jun:"A Beast...there is no doubt in my mind that the presence I'm sensing is a Devil Beast!" She didn't know exactly where this other Beast was, but if the past was any indication, the Beast would be looking to have her head on a silver platter. Jun transformed into Devil Lady, the process completely shredding every piece of clothing she had on currently. Her hair stood up into a wing-like form on her head, and her muscle mass increased dramatically. As Jun looked off into the distance, the night vision in her yellow eyes taking full effect, she said aloud, "I will _not_ become the hunted! I'll kill this other Beast and find a way back to Kazumi! Anything that decides to stand in the way of that is going to have to deal with the devil..." With that, Jun followed the road ahead of her with an unbreakable resolve to guide her!

* * *

In another of the seemingly infinite parallel worlds, it was a cool, full-mooned night in the year 2053. A heavily fortified military base was brimming with activity; growing and picking vegetables, setting up defense systems, but most importantly, to 99% of the base's population, keeping four members of the "happy family" under constant watch. The four in question had gotten used to the quiet hostility towards them; it was only natural, given the circumstances of the world currently. More than a decade ago, a germ hit the world by storm, separating the entire world's population into two groups: the undead or the soon-to-be undead. The humans who were still alive were also infected with the germ, called "Necrosis", but the symptoms of its disease didn't take effect until a few minutes after death. An exceedingly small percentage of those already under the germs disease were able to maintain their consciousness after death, albeit without memories of their deaths or their names. Dirge and Nephthys were two of these one-in-a-billion.

They were allowed to stay in the base because they were able to control their undead urges to hunt humans for food, but mostly because one young girl was given the authority to let them stay: Zoe. A decade ago, Zoe had been separated from her mother during an escape from an overrun base used by the humans. She'd managed to wash up on shore, only to find herself surrounded by a large group of undead, flesh-hungry seagulls. Barely escaping them, she'd made her way to a graveyard, which to her six year old mind, was a fortress surrounded by heavy iron gates; surely, the undead would never be able to reach her here.

Murphy's Law prompted the undead to start rising from their graves; she would have been eaten alive for sure, if Dirge and his dog, Cerberus, hadn't shown up. Eventually, they met up with Nephthys and a reanimated dinosaur, called Chimera, who aided Dirge in getting Zoe home; this wasn't done with heavy trails, though. _Aliens_, of all things, arrived and tried to kill them all, but Dirge was able to use his undead status to turn the Acropolis's defense systems against the alien. From their, the bridge leading to the base collapsed, taking Dirge and the others with it, leaving Zoe alone.

Years went by and Zoe matured into a sixteen year old woman, who was constantly at odds with everyone else in the base, particularly her mother. Nobody believed that a "zombie with a conscience" had been responsible for bringing her home safely; however, when a dire situation began, the Acropolis needed all the help it could get, even if it came from the supposed "Xombie". After several hardships, Dirge, Nephthys, and Zoe were able to save the Acropolis, and stop an evil Variant called Gallows in the process.

It's been a year since Gallow's second death, and the Acropolis is thriving, or as close to thriving as it can get. The two resident Xombies, Dirge and Nephthys, were still looked at with fear and, occasionally, hostility, but their expertise with dealing with their fellow undead was unexpendable. Zoe was worried that her undead friends would eventually leave if things didn't improve, but they were firm in their desire to stay. Even if it was just to keep _her_ safe, they would stay; after traveling across the land with her a decade ago, Dirge had come to love Zoe like a daughter, and keeping her safe had become his reason for being.

Due to the improved defense systems, zombie attacks against the Acropolis had dwindled considerably, but Dirge, Nephthys, Cerberus, and Chimera stood by the gates to the Acropolis, ever ready to defend it. In the event that anything went wrong with the defense systems, the Xombies were the perfect secondary defense; they never tired, never needed food, and the zombies would walk right up to them to be slaughtered (why suspect one of your own to kill you?). But the biggest "perk" to being undead was, as Dirge put it bluntly years ago, "Nothing hurts when you're dead."

The six foot seven, blue skinned man experimented with his alien left arm a bit more as he stood by the gates with the green skinned, reanimated Egyptian. Despite swearing to keep the place safe, Dirge was beginning to grow bored simply standing around. All he had was time, but standing around idly was actually _wasting_ it. If he was going to be doing nothing, he'd rather be listening to Mozart and reading a book, even if he was reading it for the millionth time. Nephthys shared the sentiment, but she'd rather be using her surprisingly scientific mind to aid in finding a cure to Necrosis. But, given her status as an undead, none of the scientists at the base trusted her, and it seemed that Zoe was the only one who did more than barely tolerate them to begin with.

Suddenly, the purple haired teenage came out of the base gates to see her friends. Cerberus's ears perked up as he panted with glee and wagged his tail; the former action was mostly out of "old habits dying hard". Zoe:"Hey, guys. I figured you could use some company, but more than that..." She trailed off after handing each of the two Xombies two syringas of Embalming Fluid. The two sentient zombies injected themselves with the stuff every so often to keep their joints and other appendages from turning to dust. Dirge:"Thanks, Zoe. Shouldn't you be teaching a class right now, instead of loitering with 'abominations' like us?" Zoe chuckled lightly at the self-deprecating humor Dirge had used before replying, "No, not today. I'm getting the feeling that nobody even listens to my lessons on the differences between zombies and Xombies, anyway. I mean, _everybody_, even my own mother, who should be _indebted_ to you guys, distrusts your ability to control yourselves around them."

Nephthys laughed before replying in her heavy accent, "It comes with the territory, dear. They'll come around eventually." She was going to continue when Dirge interjected in a deep voice, "Yeah, that's about as likely as pigs flying." After spending such a long time together, Dirge and Nephthys had developed a brother-sister relationship, which prompted Nephthys to shoot her "brother" a look before finishing, "As I was going to say before I was _interrupted_, they might have a point in Chimera's case; millions of years of genetic coding is hard to erase, remember?" Zoe:"Yeah, I know. With that regard, a lot of people keep asking me how Dirge keeps Cerberus under control so well. I keep telling them that Cerberus was a police dog in life, but nobody seems to listen to 'the crazy child'." Nephthys:"I'm sure everybody is over thinking that you're crazy by now, dear. Besides, you proved them all wrong when we showed up to help." Dirge:"I bet you just wanted to rub all their noses in it, too, didn't you, Zoe?" Zoe had to admit that she felt a certain kind of pride when Dirge and Nephthys had shown up, immediately putting all the rumors that she had simply dreamed them up while drugged up in the infirmary.

Dirge:"Anyway, Zoe, there's nothing for you to do out here, so why don't you go back inside?" Zoe shook her head before returning, "No, Dirge, I'd rather spend time out here with you than inside with all those people; you guys are my friends, and it seems like the only ones that I have. Ironic, isn't it? The whole world has gone to hell in a handbasket and the only friends that I can make are all dead!" Even Dirge, with his deadpan personality, had to release a laugh at this comment. Dirge had to admit, when Zoe came out to see them, it made his miserable life a bit brighter.

But, all good things must come to an end. During their conversation, a black hole opened up about a third of the way across the bridge leading to the Acropolis! The portal's pull seemed to be focused on Dirge and Nephthys, since they were the only ones being dragged towards it. Dirge groaned his signature, "Oh, perfect," as he started sliding across the ground against his will. Both Dirge and Nephthys started to fight against the portal's strength with their undead enhanced muscles, but it soon proved to be for naught. They started to lift off the ground slightly and drift forward into the portal's awaiting blackness.

Zoe reached her hand out to Dirge in a frightened attempt to keep her friend from disappearing from her life again. However, Dirge refused her hand; whatever this portal was, he was determined to keep his "daughter" out of its grasp. Dirge flew forward first; his right hand kept an ironclad grip on Faust, his dual-spaded shovel, while his Xar-Gathian left arm extended a tendril, which wrapped around a support beam on the bridge, momentarily stopping his flight. As Nephthys flew by him, Scythe in her right hand, she gripped Dirge's right leg and held on for dear "un-life".

Zoe realized that the portal wasn't "paying attention" to her, so she ran out towards them to help, but stopped dead in her tracks when Dirge boomed, "Don't even think about it, Zoe! If I'm being dragged in to Hell right now, I'm not going to be responsible for taking you down with me!" Chimera stayed by the gate while Cerberus followed Zoe out onto the bridge, coming to his master's aid. Just before she lost her grip, Nephthys shouted out to Zoe, "Don't worry, sweetheart. We'll be back!" Immediately afterwards, the portal swallowed her whole, and increases its pull on Dirge two fold. Dirge looked onward and saw the tendril extended from his arm was ripping rapidly, prompting him to shout out, "Cerberus!" His loyal companion barked in recognition, with a concerned look in his eyes. "Guard Zoe!", Dirge finished before he, too, was sucked into the awaiting wormhole.

When Dirge emerged, Nephthys was waiting for him, Scythe in hand. Nephthys:"Well, that's about the only anomaly stranger than us Variants." Dirge looked back at her with an exasperated expression, or as best as he could make his face appear so. Dirge:"I don't see how you can joke right now, but at least we don't appear to be in Hell, like I was afraid of. You think we can find away out of this place and get back to Zoe?" Dirge asked the question knowing that the answer was probably not what he wanted, but his ever optimistic "sister" replied, "Of course we will, Dirge. Standing around here won't get us anywhere; we'll just have to keep moving until we find somebody who is native to this place..." "And hope that they aren't immediately scared senseless by talking zombies?" Dirge finished for her. Nephthys couldn't help but smile when she said back, "Always have to be the negative one, don't you? But, I can see your point. We'll just have to keep moving and hope for the best." She started to walk down the road in front of them, tightening her grip on her Scythe slightly as she went. Dirge started to follow her and said to no one in particular, "It's...going to be a _long_ night..."

* * *

**End Notes**

Some of you may have noticed some ideas that were used many times, particulary the "shipping" hints that I threw into the story (all of which I'm in favor of, in case anybody cares). In particular, the part where Zero and Axl were making X's life miserable on the transport ship was inspired by a part of **Classic Cowboy**'s "When You Come Back To Me".

For those of you confused about the "timelines" I used, I'll list them in order of section:  
The "normal" dimension section takes place 6 months after story 8, and two years after story 7.  
The "Megaman X" dimension section takes place after the end of Megaman X: Command Mission.  
I forget the episode numbers, but as the story said, the "Bleach" dimension section takes place right before they left for the Soul Society the first time.  
Again, I forget the episode numbers, but I think the "Fate/Stay Night" dimension section takes place soon after Episode 6 or 7.  
The "Devil Lady" dimension section takes place sometime between Episodes 4 and 5.  
The "Xombie" dimension secton takes place a year after the end of Xombie: Reanimated.


	2. Criss Crossing Paths

It wasn't long after they started walking along the path before them, that Matt and D.C. noticed something important; they weren't alone in this place! They couldn't tell who was with them, but their Soul Sense and ESP, respectively, told them that several other people had been warped to this unknown world before them. They still had their doubts as to whether or not it was truly the **Force of Creation** or not, but they could figure that out later.

"Or, we can figure it out _now_..." the two of them thought aloud, as an all too familiar hologram appeared before them. God:"I know what you two concluded when Dragon Fire didn't come to fetch you, and to answer your question, no, this is _not_ the Forge of Creation. The Forge isn't another dimension; it is in Heaven, a completely different plain of existence...but I digress. You remember Mephisto, I'm sure?" Matt:"Mephisto?! Yeah, we sent that jerk packing six months ago when he tried to conquer the world through Onaga." God:"Yes, and he is still smarting from your victory. Ever since you managed to defeat him after he 'brought trouble to your doorstep', he was been going to the different Hells across the dimensions, finding the most evil creatures he was able to, and sent them here. His purpose of sending them here was to find 'The Calibur of Courage'." D.C.:"Is that like 'Soul Calibur' or something?" God:"In a manner of speaking, yes. This sword was forged by this land's ancient benevolent ruler, with the purpose of using it to defend the land against evil. Unfortunately, one of his descendants who wielded it was corrupted by the power of the blade. The blade's mystical properties magnify the qualities of a person's soul 100 fold; a person with a pure heart will become more benevolent than humanly possible, where as those who are evil and greedy will become so much so, they turn into vile demons. Regardless of personality type, those who wield it possess the nigh-omnipotent powers of a god while doing so. The sword was eventually sealed away, the ruler imprisoned, and the sword's existence was erased from all traces of this land's history."

D.C.:"Let me guess. Mephisto knew about it, and wants to get his hands on it, right?" God:"Precisely. However, the supremely advanced society's magic seals were able to hold Mephisto at bay for nearly 1500 years; these same seals are preventing Dragon Fire from reaching you. After focusing all the evil deeds of 1500 years worth of humanity as power, Mephisto was able to break through the seals and send his compatriots here. What Mephisto did not anticipate, however, was the sword's sentience; the sword was able to tell evil beings had found their way to this now extinct civilization in search of its power. To counteract these evil beings, it summoned the necessary heroes for the job of preventing its misuse." Matt:"Is the sword sentient enough to prevent evil-hearted people from grasping it?" God:"No. Though it is able to summon heroes capable of defeating any evil beings who manage to break through the seal, it cannot refuse an owner. This is where you two come in; you must unite the summoned heroes, stop the villains Mephisto has summoned here, and find the Calibur. Only by using the Calibur of Courage's power can you vanquish Mephisto's minions and transport yourselves home." God only paused a moment before saying, "Should be a walk in the park for 'Heaven's Soldier' and Tera Cooler, right?", displaying that He truly did have a sense of humor. Matt and D.C. couldn't help but shake their heads and laugh as the hologram disappeared, leaving them to make their next move.

Now that they knew for sure what was going on, Matt and D.C. started walking forward again. They were following their Soul Sense and ESP, respectively, in efforts to find the other heroes who had been sent to the forgotten land with them. It wasn't an overly long time afterward that they discovered one of them, or, more accurately, one discovered _them_. Soon, the two of them heard a low, hissing, and raspy sounding breath coming from a darkened alleyway. D.C.:"That sounded like an animal getting ready to pounce or something..." Said "animal" quickly showed itself; to D.C. it simply appeared to a naked woman with her hair standing up on-end in a weird wing-like shape and brown stripes covering..._important_ parts. Matt, on the other hand, immediately recognized who Jun Fudo was, as he had watched the Devil Lady Anime when he was younger. He said nothing out loud, relying on D.C.'s telepathy to mentally tell him who they were dealing with. It was quite evident to both of them that something had spooked her, as she glared at them with rage burning in her yellow eyes.

As she looked at them, she saw that they were two ordinary humans, and the anger faded from her glare. However, she was on a mission to not be hunted by the Beast she had been smelling, intent on find _it_ before it found _her_, prompting her to sniff the air with her Beast senses. Immediately afterwards, she hissed again, this time pointing a clawed finger straight at Matt, the rage flaring in her eyes once again! Jun:"YOU..." No sooner had she focused her night vision at the short man in front of her, she noticed that the irises of his eyes were fire-red! "How had I missed that before?" she thought to herself before concluding her sentence, "..._you're_ the Beast that demonic little boy sent after me!" Matt's eyes widened at the accusation, however, all the same, he thought that it wasn't all too weird that she thought he was a Devil Beast; ever since he had become Bowsereon six months ago, his dragonic DNA became ever stronger. This changed his once hazel irises to Bowser's fire-red, regardless of him being transformed or not!

In a diplomatic effort, Matt returned, "I'm sorry. You must have me confused with somebody else..." Jun:"Don't lie to me, Beast! What were his orders? To bring my head to him, or just skin me alive!?" D.C.:"Hey, lady, I don't know what kind of drugs you're on, but my buddy here isn't a beast, and we've never met this 'demonic little boy' you're talking about!" Jun growled in D.C.'s direction before replying, "Stay out of this! This man may seem normal to you, but deep down he is nothing more than a blood-thirsty Beast!" Before Matt could tell him to shut up, mentally or otherwise, D.C. shot back, "Said the pot to the kettle..."

Jun immediately perceived the sarcasm and didn't appreciate it one bit. Were she in her human form, the comment would have gone unattended; however, with Lady's boisterous and violent personality currently overriding her calm one, Jun took the comment more seriously than was intended. Jun growled at D.C. softly, before turning her furious yellow eyes towards Matt's red ones. Matt:"Alright, you got me; I'm a Beast." D.C. mentally communicated with Matt, saying, "What the hell are you doing?" Matt:[Mentally]"Look, she's probably smelling my Dragon blood, which is causing her to think I'm what's called a 'Devil Beast'. If I can calm her down, we might be able to convince her to join forces with us peacefully." D.C.:[Mentally]"Ok. If it hits the fan, though, you know I've got your back." Matt was going to continue speaking with Jun, explaining that he meant her no harm, but Jun took his "admission" to being a Beast as an act of provocation, and instantaneously charged him!

Jun rushed forward with superhuman speed, gripping Matt by his waist, and proceed to squeeze on his spine! Despite his pain, Matt put his hand up to silently tell D.C. not to attack. Matt:"Look, you've got the wrong idea! Like my friend said, I don't even know who that little kid you were talking about is! I don't even know **you**! Ask yourself: why would I attack a complete stranger without provocation!?" Jun only squeezed tighter, and it became evident to Matt that Devil Lady hadn't believed a word he said. Matt's voice was straining as he spoke, "Come on, let me go! I know that you're not from around here. Well, neither are we, and we can help you get home!" Despite his intentions, these words made Jun squeeze Matt tighter still; she'd taken his words of knowing she wasn't from this world as him lying about not knowing who she was! D.C. soon heard Matt's vertebrae begin to snap, prompting him to shout, "Listen, bitch! My best friend doesn't want to hurt you, but if you don't drop him right now, **I'm** gonna drop _you_!" Jun once again turned to D.C. with a hiss, continuing to apply more pressure to Matt's spine. D.C. saw her eyes soften, just a tad, before replying, "Take it from someone who knows, boy; being friends with a Beast will only make your life **miserable**..." Matt's voice was barely audible when he shouted, "LET ME GO!" Matt extended the Spikes of Retribution immediately afterwards, piercing Jun's torso in a dozen different places, as well as putting multiple holes in her arms! Jun jarred as her body was pierced; her grip released and she collapsed to the ground unconscious.

Matt breathed an agonized breath as his Healing Factor repaired his spine. He was soon 100%, and kneeled down next to Jun to check the damage he had done. He checked her pulse and, ear against her chest, listened for her heart beat. Sighing with relief, he became aware that he hadn't killed her, which was never his intent to begin with. D.C. noticed that Matt's **Koopa Klaws** had appeared on his hands, as he prepared to perform the **Blood Trick** on his assailant. D.C.:"What are you doing?! She just tried to, literally, break you in half!" Matt:"Did you listen to a thing I told you mentally? She's from a world where all the Devil Beasts consider her 'public enemy #1'; she was merely striking before she was struck herself." D.C.:"My point remains valid; what's to stop her from trying again once you heal her?!" Matt:"She is quite capable of healing herself, but I want to make sure she makes an instant recovery. To answer your question, however, we simply won't be around when she wakes up." D.C.:"Alright, I'll give her the benefit of the doubt with defending herself in advance as a natural reaction, but what's preventing her from hunting you down again?" Matt:"Nothing. But, hopefully, next time she'll think twice about attacking because I spared her life." Matt placed a Klaw against his wrist saying, "Alright, on three. One...two...three!" Matt cut his wrist, flicked a drop of orange blood onto Jun's unconscious body, and the two of them ran for it. They didn't know how long they ran, but based on their respective sixth senses, they had ran a good two miles away before stopping. D.C.:"Well, if we're gonna make friends with her, we sure won't need any enemies!" Matt laughed before saying, "Come on. We've got to keep moving; we still have to find the other heroes...we'll worry about getting her to trust us later." D.C. nodded at Matt and the two heroes continued down the road, towards the other heroes, and further away from the, _currently_, hostile Devil Lady!

* * *

"For the love of all that is good, will you please **shut up** Axl?!" X and Zero shouted at their friend. "No! I _still_ can't believe you chose _now_ to say something to them!" Axl returned, with a tinge of both accusation and friendly jabbing in his voice. After receiving death glares from both X and Zero, Axl finally said, with a sigh, "Alright, alright. I'll drop it. Besides, we still need to work out exactly where we are and what we're gonna do." Zero:"At least he's finally talking sense." Shaking his head, X said, "Yeah. Now that we're all focused on the task at hand, Axl's right. We have to come up with a plan other than 'walk until we meet somebody'. We've been walking for a couple of hours now, and the only thing we've managed to do is walk into what appears to be a graveyard...a very large graveyard." "My vote is to not join those amongst the graves," Axl said, earning another death glare from the Crimson Hunter. Zero:"Aside from the obvious, Axl!" Axl:"Sheesh, somebody's touchy today. Seriously, though, what else can we do at the moment but keep moving? I haven't seen any signs of life since we got here." X:"That is a valid point. We _haven't_ seen any traces of anybody currently residing in this area, let alone the world we've wound up on."

As if on cue, they heard approaching footsteps coming from behind them. They all reeled towards the direction of the sound to find a man of average height pacing towards them. Something seemed..._off_ with this guy, though. He was slumped in his stature, his footsteps barely lifted off of the ground, almost like he was purposely dragging his feet, and his breath came out in short, raspy gasps. X:"Are you alright, sir?" Even this far from home, X's unwavering politeness and concern for humanity remained ever present. At this, the man looked up; the Maverick Hunters immediately wished he hadn't. The man's face was disfigured horribly, and his skin looked like it was nearly rotted to the core! Worse still, upon seeing them, the man's once slow gait turned into an all-out sprint as he bolted towards them!

Before the Hunters could comprehend what was happening, the zombie tackled into X and attempted to bite his arm; X, however, remained on his feet, thanks to beyond human strength. The zombie bit into X's metallic arm, with no effect; however, this didn't stop it from trying again, and again, and again! Finally, the Hunters were convinced that this creature, whether or not it had been at one time, was most certainly not human any longer, prompting X to use his free hand to belt the zombie in the face, sending it flying several feet.

X:"What the heck was wrong with that guy!? It looked like he was trying to eat me or something!" The question went unanswered for a bit, as the zombie rose to his feet again. Axl wasted no time in unleashing guns-akimbo on the creature. Axl:"If that thing was human at one point, he certainly isn't anymore! It's either him or us, guys!" The barrage of bullets proved ultimately ineffective, as Axl's aim was focused on the torso. The zombie plowed through an impossible number of bullets, before reaching them again. Axl:"What the heck is this thing!? It won't drop!" In response, Zero's Z-Saber sliced through the zombie's neck, stopping its approach and its body's functions.

As they all breathed a sigh of relief, Zero chimed in, "Call me crazy, but thing was acting like a zombie!" Axl:"A zombie!? You mean those creatures that humans came up with for movies? The ones that are reanimated dead humans? You're kidding...right?" X:"You have a better explanation? Remember, we aren't in our own world anymore. We could be somewhere where those movie monsters actually exist...I mean, how many times did you shoot it and yet it still kept coming until Zero cut its head off." Axl:"...Yeah, I guess it's a possibility. If that's the case, we should get out of here." X:"One thing we have going for us is that since we're Reploids, we're immune to disease. Still, even if we are made of metal, if a whole group of those guys come at us, we might have a problem; in the movies humans made, they were stronger than normal people and always attacked in hoards." Zero:"How do you know all of this?" X nervously replied, "Well...Alia has a thing for horror movies..." Axl burst out laughing before saying, "Yeah, so now you can get her attention by saying that you were _in_ one!" "Don't start **that** again, Axl!" X shouted. Or rather, that's what X would have said, had he not noticed that they were at the center of the graveyard, and a decaying hand was bursting out of every grave the trio was standing near!

"We've got company!" Zero shouted, while drawing his Z-Saber. "Remember, aim for the head!" With this thought in mind, Axl adjusted his aim higher, while X simultaneously summoned the **Blade Armor**. The Blade Armor had an older model Z-Saber with it; X wasn't nearly as good at hand-to-hand combat as Zero, but X's armor allowed him to charge the Saber for stronger, faster strikes. Soon, the hoard of undead creatures had risen completely from their graves and were marching towards the Maverick Hunters. The Hunters stood at the ready, waiting for their supernatural enemies to come to them.

Axl opened fire with both guns; this time his bullets proved much more effective, as zombies were dropping left and right. Zero and X both charged into the fray, swinging their respective Z-Sabers through the undead's upper bodies. After charging his Saber up, X sliced a zombie clean in half while Zero sent another zombie's head rolling away. All of the Hunters did their level best to ignore a creeping feeling of guilt, that they were braking the third law of robotics, while they defended themselves against the former humans. The zombies were slow and completely outclassed by the Maverick Hunters in every regard, save one: _numbers_. With their shear numbers, the zombies began to slowly overwhelm the Maverick Hunters. X, Zero, and Axl had "divided and conquered", spreading apart in the circle between them and the surrounding undead; they were now standing almost back to back to back.

It appeared as though the Maverick Hunters were about to go out in a blaze of glory, but then the cavalry arrived. It wasn't the kind of cavalry the Hunters ever expected to get, but they weren't complaining; just as a zombie was about to reach X, a black tendril gripped it by the neck and yanked it backwards towards a tall figure wielding what looked like a _shovel_. On the opposite side of the swarm of zombies, Zero saw heads go flying upwards in the back of the crowd; it appeared as though a woman holding a _scythe_ was responsible for the flying heads. Dirge and Nephthys had also found their way to the graveyard, and upon finding the Maverick Hunters in trouble, they jumped into the fray to do what they do best: kill zombies! X, Zero, and Axl had already eliminated the majority of the zombies before the Xombies arrived, but their help was most needed and appreciated. With the two additional pairs of hands aiding the struggle, coupled with the fact that the zombies completely ignored Dirge and Nephthys, the fight was eventually won, without any of them taking damage.

X:"Thanks, you guys saved our butts!" It was then that the Maverick hunters noticed Dirge and Nephthys's unusual skin colors. Zero:"They're zombies, too!" Axl responded in kind by aiming his guns towards them, but X stood in their path. Dirge:"Well, at least one of you knows how to thank somebody." All three Hunters turned at the voice with a look of pure "WTF!?" written across their faces. Nephthys couldn't help but laugh before saying, "That startles everyone at first, dears. I'm Nephthys, and my counterpart is called Dirge." X was the first to extend his hand towards the Xombies. X:"Well, whether you're zombies or not, you helped us out when we needed it most. Thanks." Reluctantly, Zero and Axl followed X's example and lowered their weapons. X:"Anyway, I'm called X, my red armored friend is Zero, and he's Axl. I'm guessing you didn't just wake up in this graveyard, did you?"

Dirge muttered, "Penny for the genius," earning him a look from Nephthys. Nephthys:"No, we are not from around here. Back in our world we are commonly called 'Talkers', since, even though we are obviously not among the living, we retained our conscious minds. We were mysteriously sent here by a black hole that suddenly appeared." Zero:"Hey, the same thing happened to us! We wound up stranded here, and we've just been wandering around, almost aimlessly, for the past couple of hours." Dirge:"I guess we aren't the only people that are impossibly unlucky." Axl:"You two protect humanity in the world you're from, don't you?" Dirge:"...Yes, we do. One girl in particular, Zoe, is probably the only friend we have amongst the living. Consequently, she's probably also the only one who appreciates our actions." Axl:"I owe you two an apology for pointing my guns at you, then. That said, we all have our respective worlds to get back to; since we're as unfamiliar with the territory as you are, you want to get lost together?"

Nephthys laughed as Axl's wording, but replied, "That sounds like a good idea; there is strength in numbers, after all." Nephthys looked at Dirge, who nodded in agreement, but the look in his eyes told her that he didn't trust their new companions; not yet at least. Zero:"That settles it then. It looks like there's a gate up that way a bit, so you guys want to head there?" "We came from this way," Dirge said while pointing behind him. "And, I'm guessing you guys came from that direction," he finished while pointing behind the trio. X:"Yeah, so I guess the gate that Zero is referring to is the only mutually unexplored area. That sounds like the best place to continue our search for an escape." The five of them all nodded towards each other then headed in that direction. An alliance had been made; however, unknown to any of them, there were more allies to be made, and enemies to meet!

* * *

It didn't take very long after he started walking for Ichigo to wonder "Where the f%$k am I?" Realizing that there really wasn't an answer, he let his right arm fall down to his side. Ichigo's hand had been on Zangetsu's hilt the entire time he'd been walking, expecting to be jumped by a foe an any moment in this foreign world. But, after some hours of seemingly pointless wandering, he hadn't seen a single being, friend _or_ foe. Ichigo slowly allowed his arm to relax because, quite frankly, it was pretty tired from staying in that ready position for so long.

It was about then that Ichigo noticed a small spark of Spiritual Pressure. It wasn't like any that he'd ever felt before; it didn't belong to a Hollow nor to a Soul Reaper, but it was Spiritual Pressure nonetheless. Although Ichigo could feel the pressure, _tracking_ it was the hard part for him; he could just hear Uryu telling him that he was a "sad excuse for a Soul Reaper", since he couldn't trace Spiritual Pressure to its source without a helping hand. Still, with him being the only Soul Reaper, that he was aware of, in this strange new world, Ichigo had only himself to rely on. As such, Ichigo focused 100% of his attention on the spark of Spiritual Pressure and followed his instincts. In reality, it didn't take Ichigo very long to find the source of the Pressure, but, with him having to concentrate so hard, it seemed like an eternity to him; within about half an hour, Ichigo found a woman, a bit shorter than him, with slightly beyond shoulder-length brown hair, brown eyes, and somewhat pale skin. Ichigo approached her cautiously; partly because of the faint Spiritual Pressure he could feel emanating from her, and partly because he could tell that she was older than him.

All of his caution was thrown to the wind in a matter of moments, however. She noticed him approaching her, and, with a shout of "My first friend has arrived!", ran straight for him and nearly "glomped" him to the ground. Naturally surprised by this, Ichigo's only reply was, "Um, I don't believe we've met..." The woman, in turn, released her grip on Ichigo's waist and looked at him, confusion smeared across her face, before saying, "Wait, you're not dead...but, I guess you'll due for small talk for now. I'm called Edwina, and you are?" Ichigo tried to hide the slight blush across his face, due to his shyness around feminine contact, and replied, "I'm Ichigo Kurosaki. Sorry about the confusion earlier; I'm not from around here and I'm looking for a way to get home." Edwina twirled in place, humming an almost obnoxiously happy tune, before looking back at him, with a twinkle in her eyes, to speak. Ichigo hadn't known this girl for very long at all, but due to her almost childish nature, and apparently fascinating imagination, he couldn't help but compare her to Orihime. Edwina:"Oh really? I'm not from around here either. I was asked to help find some sword or something for this guy, and suddenly I'm here." Ichigo:"Who was this guy?" Edwina:"I don't know. He had this really unearthly feel to him, which is what I liked about him. I agreed to help him out, and he gave me special powers in return."

That got Ichigo's attention; Ichigo:"What kind of powers are we talking about? I'm not exactly normal myself, if you haven't noticed." Edwina:"Well, duh! I could tell that just by looking at you, with that outrageous outfit you have! And I think I was wrong before. You're not alive or dead; you're somewhere in between...just the way I _like _'em!" Ichigo:"Uh...I'm a Soul Reaper, a spiritual being that helps souls stuck on Earth pass on." Edwina's happy expression suddenly turned sour; Edwina:"So, you're here to find my friends and kill them?! Are you going to kill me too then!?" Ichigo:"What?! Where did you get that idea?!" Edwina:"My friends are all on their way here. You asked me what powers I had before? I can raise the dead and have all the friends I want, but only in one graveyard per day..."

Ichigo:"Wait, so you create Hollows!?" Edwina:"Hollow, zombie, undead, brain-muncher...whatever term rocks your boat. I raise my friends from their graves so we can have fun and terrorize everyone! You can't ask for a better friend; zombies are loyal, obedient, never tire, don't object to anything, and all you have to do is point them in the direction of some 'live bait'! I _love_ zombies!" Ichigo wasn't quite sure whether to be disturbed by Edwina's last statement or not, but one thing became very clear; this girl was not nearly as innocent as her Orihime-like nature portrayed her to be! Before Ichigo could open his mouth to say anything, Edwina suddenly turned to her right and started wailing! Unknown to either Ichigo or Edwina, while they were having their increasingly awkward conversation, the dead that Edwina had raised had started to attack the Maverick Hunters! As quickly as they were raised, they were being sent back into their graves; this process increased in speed once Dirge and Nephthys joined the fray.

Edwina didn't know who or what was eliminating the zombies she raised, but she could sense their second deaths. Edwina:"NOOOOOO! MY FRIENDS!" She turned back towards Ichigo, who immediately noticed her appearance beginning to change. "You have something to do with this, DON'T YOU?!" Edwina continued to wail. Ichigo couldn't get a word of defense in edgewise, but started to reach for Zangetsu, spurred on by her increasing metamorphosis. Edwina's hair started to change to a silvery white and her skin became a pale, light gray. But, most startling, her irises turned pitch black, while the whites and pupils of her eyes became a frightening blood red! She glared hatefully at Ichigo, while her fingers morphed into nine inch long claws. Edwina:"I was ready to trust a living soul, but YOU AND YOUR REAPERS only want to destroy what I value most! You want to hunt my friends?! Fine, but first you'll have to get through **Deadwina**!" Then, with a barbaric scream, Edwina's undead form charged at Ichigo with blinding speed!

Under most circumstances, Ichigo was fearless in a fight; this fight notwithstanding, he found himself reluctant to engage the blood-thirsty zombie woman rushing at him. This was due, partly, to his chivalrous nature, but in the back of his mind he concluded that the main reason he didn't want to fight her was how much Edwina reminded him of his Orihime. "Wait," he thought to himself, "since when was she _mine_?!" Ichigo was momentarily pulled from this thought when razor sharp claws barely missed his face while he was distracted. "Dammit, this is _not_ the time to reminisce about home!" he thought aloud, trying to push his previous thought from his mind while he flash-stepped a safe distance away, reappearing roughly a mile and a half down the road.

Deadwina continued to charge towards Ichigo at full speed, proving that the undead truly did never tire; she was rapidly closing the seemingly large distance he'd placed between them. Ichigo fleetingly thought about trying to dissuade Deadwina from attacking him, on the premise that he did, in fact, have nothing to do with her...friends' second deaths; he immediately squashed this thought, knowing that she wouldn't believe him anyway. He came to terms with having to defend himself, but his chivalry wouldn't allow him to kill this woman, who, as of yet, hadn't done him any real harm, aside from accusing him of being a liar. Well, a _murdering_ liar. However, while she hadn't done _him_ any harm, she admitted to possessing the ability and desire to spawn Hollows at a moment's notice. His duty as a Soul Reaper became clear; he'd have to stop her from creating more Hollows. He was of the mind to avoid killing her if he could; maybe find a way to remove her powers, or use a Konso on her undead form to prevent its use. But, once Ichigo heard the awful, bloodlust-filled scream getting closer, he acknowledged aloud what he already knew; "Peace is **not** going to be an option..."

With this, his focus on battle returned to it's usual ironclad state; he pushed all thoughts of home to the back of his mind and gave his full, undivided attention to the blood curdling shriek coming at him with homicidal intent. Soon, the scream was upon him, slashing at him again, but he was ready; bringing Zangetsu downward, Ichigo sliced off four claws on Deadwina's right hand, and brought it back up to block her left in a split second. Deadwina leaped back, ceasing her screaming and gazed her bleeding hand. She looked up at Ichigo, whose sword was posed in ready position, and contorted her face into an evil smile. Deadwina:"I suppose, reaper of lives, you're expecting me to back off, right?!" Ichigo:"I _was _hoping to not have to kill you, in self-defense or otherwise. However, that being said, you are bringing Hollows into the world and I can't allow that!" Deadwina's smile twisted into an even more evil "slasher-grin", saying, "**Good**, I _love_ it when my food acts tough! Did I tell you the best part about being an undead before, Reaper?" Ichigo remained at the ready, unfazed at being referred to as food, waiting for Deadwina to make her next move. "Nothing hurts when you're dead!" Deadwina finished her sentence in a hissing voice, before bull-rushing the Substitute Soul Reaper once more!

Deadwina proved that she could swing her arms as fast as she could run, but she was quickly finding out that she was no match for Ichigo; time and time again, raging swing after raging swing was blocked by the huge blade known as Zangetsu. Each time, Ichigo was able to counterattack, inflicting a minor wound to her torso or limb, but she never quit. While in her undead form, Edwina could feel no pain, as she herself stated. This meant, of course, she wasn't going to stop trying to murder and eat the Soul Reaper until she was dead...again. Deadwina prepared to charge again when Ichigo shouted "Getsuga Tensho!", and suddenly she came face to face with a crescent moon shaped energy beam! It hit her dead on, sending her flipping down the road in the opposite direction; she didn't feel a thing, but when she stopped flipping, she immediately saw the damage the beam had done. Ichigo had held back a little, but the damage was still ghastly; her left leg was bleeding from a single, deep, and long cut from her ankle to her pelvis, her stomach was deeply wounded on the left side, and she suffered a deep gash from the bottom of her chin to just below her left eye, as well.

Deadwina rose slowly to her feet, glaring hatefully at the Substitute Soul Reaper, who promptly flash-stepped in front of her, Zangetsu raised above his head to deliver a finishing blow; Ichigo was an honorable warrior and was willing to let her live if she yielded, but Deadwina showed no signs of slowing down or surrendering, even after taking a Getsuga to the face. Deadwina sensed the chivalrous hesitation in Ichigo's eyes as he raised his sword, so she did the one thing she felt would make him stop his attack; she changed back into Edwina as Ichigo was bringing Zangetsu down upon her head, causing him to stop mid-swing.

Edwina:"Owwwwwww! Wha-what happened?" Ichigo sheathed Zangetsu, but maintained a cautious distance away from Edwina. Ichigo:"You said something about your friends being killed, then you morphed into some creature and tried to kill me!" Edwina:"Oh, no! That demon that possessed me ages ago must be coming out again!" When Ichigo's permanent scowl changed to a look of concern, Edwina smiled inwardly, knowing that she'd ensnared him in her trap. Ichigo:"I...could perform a Konso on you. That should remove your curse..." Edwina:"Really?! Then, please do it, before she takes me again!" Ichigo walked towards her, less cautiously than before, and started to reach back for Zangetsu once he was close enough to perform the Konso. At that moment, with a high-pitched and gleeful, but evil sounding, laugh, Edwina shot a ball of red energy from her palm at the unsuspecting Ichigo, sending him hurtling through the air!

After flying for several feet and sliding along the ground on his back, Ichigo regained his stance, mildly hurt. Ichigo cursed, both at himself for not seeing that coming, and her for pulling such a dishonorable trick by playing on his chivalrousness. Edwina started to change back into Deadwina, her voice getting raspier as the metamorphosis progressed. Edwina:"Men are so stupid in the face of beauty...I wasn't lying before when I said I was possessed, but what I left out was that the demon that did it was weak; as I grew older and stronger, so too did it grow weaker until my spirit ruled over it and killed it, leaving me with its powers!" The metamorphosis completed, and Deadwina finished the thought, "So you see, Edwina and I are **one and the same**!" Ichigo:"What?!" As another red ball of demonic energy formed in her right hand, which Ichigo noticed had its claws back, Deadwina answered Ichigo snidely, "Are you that stupid, boy? Then, I'll spill it out for you: I'm Edwina calling upon the full extent of the demon's power!"

Deadwina never got the change to use her ball of energy, though. While they hadn't seen the entire battle, Saber and Shiro had sensed the battle going on once they got near, and arrived in time to see Edwina pull her dirty trick on Ichigo. Calling forth the ambient energy around her, Saber powered up her invisible sword, and with a mighty swing, sent a tornado strength wind straight at Deadwina! Caught completely off-guard, Deadwina was sent flying through the air, landing fifty feet away in a heap. She rose with a low growl, and upon spotting Saber and Shiro, shrieked with frustration. Deadwina:"You got lucky this time, Ichigo. But, the next time we meet, I won't stop until I'm feasting on your soul!" After this grotesque threat, Deadwina teleported away in a pillar of red energy.

Ichigo was about to thank Saber for her, mostly unnecessary, assistance, but before he could even open his mouth, Saber goaded him with, "A true warrior never lets down his guard!" Normally, despite his incessant scowl, Ichigo was actually quite a patient guy, at least with women, but Saber's words set off his temper almost immediately. Ichigo:"Who do you think you are, lady?! You've known me for less that thirty seconds, we haven't even been properly introduced, and already you're treating me like a second-class warrior!?" With some insistence from Shiro, Saber bowed before saying, "I apologize for my condescending tone; my advice came out a bit harsher than intended. Showing mercy is an honorable tactic, but you should remain prepared for pitiful tricks from scoundrels, such as that...beastly woman who just departed." Ichigo:"Your apology is accepted. I'm Ichigo Kurosaki, by the way." Shiro took his extended hand before saying, "Name's Shiro, and..." Saber:"You can call me Saber." Ichigo:"Now that we're all introduced, I suppose it's a safe guess that you two aren't from around these parts either, correct?" Shiro:"Right. Saber and I were training in the courtyard of my mansion when a _black hole_, of all things, appeared sucked us up. It happened so quickly we barely had time to react to it." Ichigo:"Lot of that going around, apparently. Same thing happened to me, except I was on my way home when it appeared right in front me; I couldn't even change my course before I was inside of it." Saber:"I had a feeling that we were not the only ones who were unlucky enough to become trapped in a parallel world, but my feeling wasn't confirmed until the distant sounds of your battle with that witch reached my ears." Ichigo:"Speaking of whom, I had that situation under control, but I'm still glad you showed up when you did. More importantly, she told me, before she morphed into a monster, that she was sent here by someone to find a sword. I got the impression that whomever sent her wasn't human, so the sword Edwina was sent here for must be some kind of powerful weapon." Shiro:"Then, perhaps finding that sword is our only way to get home. We should find it before she does." Saber:"Agreed, Shiro. Ichigo, there is strength in numbers; you are free to join us in our search if you wish." Ichigo:"That sounds like a good idea. You guys seem to be alright, and the only other person I've met in this world so far wants to 'eat my soul'." "That would put a damper on a relationship," Shiro laughed. "We should keep going up this road, since we came from that way and didn't see a single thing." Ichigo:"Alright, sounds like a plan. Let's get moving; I have a feeling that 'Deadwina' isn't the only obstacle we're going meet..."

* * *

Author's Note: In case anybody was thinking/suspecting it, yes, the Witch from Left 4 Dead was a big inspiration for how I imagined adult Deadwina would look. Anybody who has played Timespltters: Future Perfect may know who Edwina is; however, in that game she is only a small child, albeit still possessed. Deadwina was also in that game, but appeared only like a slightly decompossed version of Edwina, and seemed to be an "expy" of Carrie. I imagined that if she survived childhood while possessed, she wouldn't have had any parental figures, hence the child-like nature she demonstrated before going axe-crazy on Ichigo.

Hope you're all enjoying the story so far; I've been having a mix of some writer's block and lack of motivation to sit down and write, due to working a a computer all day, but the next installment should be out fairly soon!


	3. The Gang's All Here!

Jun Fudo remained unconscious on the ground for a several minutes after being stabbed through the torso a dozen times by the person she referred to only as "the beast" in her mind. She begin to regain consciousness, but her eyelids felt like lead, and despite the fact that her wounds had healed, her chest still felt like there was something plunging into it. Soon she sat up, rubbing her chest and her eyes, and waited for her vision to clear. She then rose to her feet, holding her head as if to urge the mild throbbing in her cerebellum to go away. Soon, however, she was fully recovered, and took the opportunity to sniff the air. When she did so, she discovered that "the beast" and his friend were nowhere near where she was. Jun:"Bastard left me for dead! Well, that's a decision he'll come to regret once I sniff him out again!"

Jun looked up into the sky, to discover that night had fallen while she was unconscious. Jun:"Perfect! I may not be able to smell him yet, but I have feeling that I can see in the dark a lot better than he can!" Jun remembered she had found the two men coming from her right, so she darted to her left, following the path before her. The moon was barely showing, causing her surroundings to become pitch black, but Devil Lady's night vision made everything seem like it was high noon. Jun ran at full speed down the road, stopping periodically to sniff the air for her predator. After about half an hour of running and sniffing, Devil Lady began to become frustrated; how could the predator she devised to reverse roles on get _that_ far away from her in such a short time? "Either that," she thought to herself, "or I was out for a lot longer than I thought."

Jun paused once more to sniff the air; she still hadn't found "the beast's" scent, but she discovered the scent of several other creatures relatively close to her. Not wanting to take any chances, she started in the direction of the aromas, rapidly tensing up with anticipation. Eventually, she came to a small clearing in the nearby forest. The scents were closer now, but still not in her line of sight. Jun reacted with a hissing growl when she heard a twig snap behind her! Jun:[Mentally]"How did they sneak up on me?! I should be able to smell them!" Upon turning around fully, she found herself looking at a construct of sorts, wielding a huge sword. The construct had a devilish appearance, complete with two horns going straight up out of its head, solid, glowing red eyes, and two spiked bracers on its arms.

Devil Lady immediately lost interest in the construct, since it was not her intended target, and, at the moment, made no moves against her, let alone spoke to her. The latter changed when the construct said "And here I thought there were no beings of flesh in this world," to her as she started to walk away. After noticing that it got her attention, it continued, "So much for my dream coming true; I've always found humans to be such pathetic creatures. If I had my way, they'd all be exterminated, but my enemies continue to protect them for reasons that are incomprehensible to me! Hahahaha!" Jun was quickly getting annoyed by this machine's prattling and responded in kind. Jun:"I don't know who, or what, you are and, quite frankly, I don't give a damn, either. All I know is that if you want to start trouble with me, you'll quickly find yourself dealing with the devil!" Construct:"Hahahahahaha! You are obviously not from this world. For that matter, you aren't from my world, either, because a human from my world would know to fear the name Sigma!"

Without provocation of any kind, Sigma leaped in the air towards Jun, and tried to bring his large blade down upon her head! Obviously not amused, Devil Lady trapped the blade between her palms as it came down, and countered with a mighty kick to Sigma's chest. Sigma flew backwards about ten feet before stopping himself, and looked back at Jun with a grin plastered on his robotic face. Sigma:"Hm hm hm. You're an interesting human, but still _just _a human, nonetheless!" Jun then saw Sigma disappear into thin air! Jun searched her surroundings for her attacker, her annoyance that she couldn't smell Sigma increasing several fold. Sigma appeared above and behind her, and with an evil laugh, came down, slashing her down her back! Jun growled with pain, the slash mark which ran all the way up and down her back bleeding copiously. Sigma laughed some more as she turned to face him, and started to fire rings of energy from his hands. Jun was able to leap over the energy rings and came down upon Sigma's body, full force. After doing so, Jun pounded the metallic face of her enemy over and over again.

After a few strikes, Jun's face morphed into a slight "slasher grin"; while it was true that Jun was getting a handle on the personality shift that happened when she transformed, she hadn't quite mastered it yet, and in the back of her mind...she was scaring herself. Devil Lady got a few more great shots in against Sigma, but he suddenly unleashed an energy blast from his palm; Jun then found herself experiencing, within her conscious memory, the single most painful moment of her life. The energy blast Sigma fired was easily as large as she was, and it sent her flying off of him with extreme prejudice. After sailing through the air for almost fifty feet, Jun landed on the ground, back first, and proceeded to flip backwards three times, before stopping, face down, in a heap.

Sigma rose to his feet, a grin streaked across his face. Sigma found himself amused that Jun had managed to dent his skull, and even more amused when he saw her struggling to get to her feet after taking his energy blast at point-blank range. Sigma:"What an interesting human, indeed..." For her part, Jun had suffered a second-degree burn that went from her thighs to her chest, a second large cut on her back from landing solidly on a rock, several smaller cuts on her arms and legs, and a nasty gash on her forehead; the gash was rapidly oozing blood, forcing her to shut her left eye. However, while it wasn't instantaneous, Jun's accelerated healing was already beginning to close the smaller cuts, and the two larger cuts on her back, from the rock and Sigma's sword, respectively, were starting to shrink. To Sigma's surprise, Jun was back on her feet, glaring at him with her glowing yellow eyes. Jun:"I have someone back home that needs me, and I won't let _anything_, beast or not, stop me from getting back to her!" Sigma:"Hahahahahaha! You truly are the most amusing human I've ever met; I'd consider letting you live, if I didn't utterly _despise _humanity..." Jun couldn't stand to listen to Sigma's "death to the humans" speech any longer, bull-rushing him as he spoke. Sigma:"Hm, hm, hm! BRING IT ON!"

Sigma met Jun's charge head on, only to get uppercutted several feet into the air with his chin bashed in slightly. Sigma prepared to bring his sword downward in a cleaving slash, but was surprised to see Jun leaping up at him! Jun's blow connected, sending Sigma even further into the air. Sigma's amusement with Jun's resilience and abilities began to take a turn towards annoyance and further hatred for humanity; regular humans were bad enough, but a human with enhanced abilities that he couldn't easily dominate..."I will not be beaten! Not by an insignificant HUMAN!" Sigma shouted, both at Jun and no one in particular. Sigma started downward again, but was met again by Jun, who had extended a pair of bat-like wings from her back in order to fly. She got Sigma in a full-nelson, bringing him down into the ground with tremendous force, making a tiny crater with his body.

Sigma rose from the crater, anger evident in his robotic orbs. With a raging grunt, Sigma fired another blast from his palm. Jun had been ready for Sigma's long ranged attack, since it was the same one he'd used against her while she had been pummeling him into the ground earlier, and leaped upward to dodge it. What she hadn't expected, though, was for the blast grew taller and faster as it traveled! Jun nearly dodged the blast, but it struck her legs, knocking them out from under her and burning them. The pain wasn't nearly as intense as the point blank blast, and the burn from that had already begun to heal; that said, Jun made a mental note to stay on the move so he couldn't hit her with another one of those. Sigma had leaped towards Jun while she was flipping in the air from the blast, bringing his sword down in the center of her back, and smashing her into the ground underneath of his blade. He followed by bringing his blade straight down, in an attempt to impale Jun, but she managed to roll out of the way and get to her feet in the nick of time! Jun had been assessing the battle in her mind since it started, trying to find a weakness in her abnormally resilient foe. Jun:"[Mentally] I clearly have this construct who calls himself Sigma at a disadvantage in terms of physical prowess, and I have my own tricks up my sleeve. But, there is one advantage he has that I can't do a thing to compensate for: he's a machine who can't feel pain! He's been taking everything I've been throwing at him, and isn't showing any signs of slowing down; if this keeps going, for as resilient as I am, I might not be the victor...I'll have to try to short him out!"

Sigma fired energy rings at her in all orientations, but Jun dodged to the side and flew towards him. She rolled to her left when the burning blast shot towards her again and kept going. When she reached Sigma, he disappeared into thin air again! Jun saw through the ruse this time, though; figuring he'd try to attack her from behind, Jun back flipped twice, landing a few feet behind her original position. Sure enough, Sigma came down in front of her, completely helpless to counterattack. He attempted to, nonetheless, turning his left palm, the one the burning blast fired from, behind him, but Jun grabbed his hand, arching his wrist to point at the ground. Jun caught Sigma's right elbow, as it came towards her head, as well before unleashing the attack she thought would finish Sigma; her Electric Aura.

From within her body, an aura of electricity radiated outward a few feet, trapping Sigma in a dome of energy with no means of escape! Sigma:"GAAAAAAAHHHHH!" This time, it was Sigma's turn to fly fifty feet away before landing, the electricity still crackling on his body periodically. Jun panted with mild fatigue, proud of herself for defeating an enemy unlike any she'd ever seen. Periodically, she heard the electricity crackle on Sigma's body, but he didn't move. Jun got closer to Sigma's downed body, to see if he truly was defeated. This proved to be a big mistake; once she was close enough, Sigma suddenly surged with life, swinging his huge sword upward at her. Jun was fortunate enough to be standing a bit further away than Sigma thought she was, since instead of being sliced the full length of her torso, Sigma only managed to get a small cut on her face. The unfortunate part of it, was the slice went up through her left eye!

As she screamed with pain, Sigma unleashed a blinding flurry of slashes; some were vertical, others diagonal, but regardless of direction, they were **all** hitting while she was stunned. Finally, with a horizontal slash, he sent Jun sailing backward, covered in wounds. The silver lining of it actually came from Sigma's sadistic nature; only a couple of the cuts were all that deep, which meant that Jun would heal in almost no time. However, in the meantime, Jun had to make up a serious handicap by fighting with only one eye; no sooner had the gash on her forehead, which forced it shut the first time, healed, Jun's left eye was forced shut again!

As Jun rose, holding her wounded eye, she looked up to see Sigma sliding on the ground towards her at high speed! Jun leaped to her side as the last possible second, dodging a decapitating strike. Now that he knew what Jun was capable of, Sigma wasn't going to give her any breathing room, and continued to press his attack. With his seven foot long sword holding her at bay, Sigma continued to slice at Jun, who wasn't able to counterattack. But, when Sigma made a wide arced diagonal slice, he left himself just open enough for Jun to return to the offensive. Jun got close giving Sigma a metal-denting right and left hook, followed by a hard kick to his chest. While Sigma staggered backward, Jun leashed the Electric Aura again, but this time focused it into a beam out of her finger! Sigma was on the receiving end of a concentrated shock, but during Jun's attack, he'd begun to charge up a blast of his own. While he was charging, a barrier came between Jun and Sigma, absorbing much of the electrical beam!

Jun only realized this was the case when she heard Sigma grunting with effort, rather than writhing in pain like he had during his first dose of electricity. Jun stopped firing beam just in time for Sigma, who was smiling sadistically, to fire his fully charged blast straight at her! Jun could see the blast coming at her, in what seemed like slow motion. She knew this one was _definitely_ going to hurt...possibly more than that. Jun's life flashed before her eyes; she thought about how, despite the brutal nature in which was forced to do it, she'd saved many people's lives, had good friends, and a good job. She had no regrets, save one; "I'm sorry, Kazumi..." Jun thought to herself.

But a battle cry from behind her pulled her from her thoughts; "Getsuga Tensho!" Jun heard from behind her, then saw a crescent moon made of energy meet up with Sigma's blast, causing it to explode! Even better, Ichigo's Getsuga kept going, and struck Sigma hard! Sigma flipped backwards a couple of times, before immediately getting to his feet. No sooner did he do that then he heard a feminine battle cry from above him; Sigma looked up to see Saber coming straight down at him! Sigma dodged Saber's slash, but she kept coming with an invisible frenzy of slashes. Sigma managed to block them all, thanks to the shear size of his sword, but the tornado gust that Saber released from her blade sent him flying backwards! Sigma landed on his feet, and glared at his three opponents; Jun was still frozen in place, not quite able to comprehend what had just happened yet, where as the other two stood at the ready. Sigma:"Grrr... more _interesting_ humans..." The venom in his voice when he said "interesting" was unmistakable. Sigma:"Hmph! I've already wasted too much of my precious time dealing with that first piece of scrap flesh-mound! I have to find that **sword** or I'll never become the god of all Reploids!" Sigma's eyes flashed red before he finished, "You had best hope our path's never cross again, _humans_!" With that, Sigma rapidly teleported away, leaving the heroes in his wake.

Jun stood there looking at the two warriors who had appeared out of nowhere when she'd needed it most; even if it wasn't for her sake, these fighters had given her another chance to get back to her dearest Kazumi. Once she had broken out of her momentary stupor, Jun's beast senses confirmed for her that _these_ people were the aromas she'd been following earlier. Jun remained cautious. These people were most definitely "special", but also certainly not devil beasts, and they'd just saved her life; that said, she had grown too used to being hated by every creature of the night to _not_ be weary.

Jun watched as Shiro emerged from the forest and stood next to Saber, breathing hard; Ichigo and Saber had taken off quicker than he could follow when they first heard Jun's screams of pain from a few of Sigma's attacks, leaving him in the dust. No sooner had Shiro arrived than Jun finally spoke up, saying simply, "Thank you." The three of them turn to face her to reply in kind; once they saw Jun, who had stepped into the moonlight a bit more, Ichigo and Shiro shouted, "Gaaaaah!" and did the fastest 180 of their lives! The bright pink blush across their faces couldn't be seen by Jun, who appeared a bit offended, but she could see Saber roll her eyes before simply stating, "Men..."

For the first time since she'd arrived in this foreign world, Jun found herself laughing. Saber:"Don't be offended by them; apparently they share the same shyness about women." Both Shiro and Ichigo retorted, "We wouldn't be so shy if she had some clothes on!" Both men had still had their backs to Jun, still to embarrassed to look at her. Saber:"I'm called Saber. The guys are Shiro and Ichigo." Jun:"I'm called Jun. Jun Fudo." Jun was hesitant to extend her hand for a hand shake; these people seemed ok, but she was still on high alert. Finally, Ichigo and Shiro summoned up the courage to face Jun, spurred on by Saber's insistence. When they turned around, the noticed that while Jun did indeed have no clothes on, all of her feminine characteristics were missing, due to her metamorphosis; because of this fact, their embarrassment dissipated somewhat.

Ichigo was the first to introduce himself properly. After extending his hand, Ichigo said, "I'm Ichigo Kurosaki. Nice to meet you, Ms. Fudo." Jun hesitated for a moment, then accepted Ichigo's hand. Shiro soon followed suit. Saber:"Now that we've all been introduced, I can assume that it is safe to assume that you are not from around here, correct, Jun?" Jun suddenly became angry, and with a hissing growl, she replied, "How do you know that?!" Shiro:"Whoa, whoa! We are not your enemies, Jun! We just suspect that because we aren't from here either. A black hole appeared in our respective world and brought us here." Jun:"So...you had the same thing happen to you? I was standing the balcony of my apartment in Tokyo when that portal appeared. I just hope Kazumi is alright..." Shiro was about to open his mouth to ask who Kazumi was, when Jun answered his unspoken question with, "She's my best friend; more like a sister than a friend." Saber:"I'm sure she's fine. We need to get moving and find that sword." Jun:"Sword? I was too stunned to move when you saved my life, but I heard that machine, Sigma, mention needing to find a sword to become a god before he disappeared." Ichigo:"Yeah. Whatever that sword is its supposed to give its wielder god-like powers. This Sigma guy might have been sent here by the same person who sent Edwina for the sword." Ichigo could see Jun about to ask, so he finished, "Edwina was the first person I met coming here. She reacted to me the same way I'm guessing that Sigma guy reacted to you; she tried to kill me by transforming into a demon of sorts. Saber and Shiro helped me out a bit and she ran, the same way Sigma did."

Jun:"That beast and his friend must be here for the sword as well..." Saber:"Beast?" Jun:"Yes. In my world there are creatures called Devil Beasts, the next step in human evolution. Most of those beasts see it fit to hunt and kill regular people as food; I disagree with that philosophy and have made myself humanity's protector. In doing so, I became what you might call 'public enemy #1' amongst the beasts. I believe that the first person I met here, before that robot, is a beast sent to kill me by a demonic little boy I encountered shortly before I was sent here. That's why I _**need**_ to get out of here; he already tried to kill Kazumi once, and if he realizes that I'm missing, he'll do it again!" Shiro put a comforting hand on Jun's shoulder, saying, "Look, Jun. We don't expect you to trust us completely, considering we just met, but we're all in the same boat. We all have people back home who are waiting for us. We believe that the only way to escape this place is to find that sword everyone seems to be searching for."

Jun nodded, but said all the same, "And you won't mind having a _beast_ amongst you?" Ichigo:"Hahaha! Believe me; you are most certainly _not_ the strangest thing that I've come across. Plus, we all seem to be on the 'good guys', so having you traveling with us won't be a problem." Ichigo's face became flushed before he finished, "Just put on some clothes, would you?" Jun:"Haha! I wish I could, but my metamorphosis increases my muscle mass to the point that my clothes get shredded. I'll spare you _true_ embarrassment and stay in beast form, though." Ichigo and Shiro's flush increased a bit, but the group of them laughed it off before starting down the path, following in Sigma's footsteps.

* * *

It seemed like forever before morning came, but once it did, Matt and D.C. removed themselves from the abandoned farmhouse on the outskirts of another big city; from the outside looking in, it appeared to be much bigger than the one they had left the previous evening. D.C.:"So, you think this is the capital city? Or, more importantly, where the Calibur is?" Matt:"Maybe, and I don't know. If the sword was a person, we could track it with our respective 6th senses, but that would make our job too easy, now wouldn't it?" D.C.:"Hahahahaha, tell me about it. Speaking of which, I'm sensing more people today than I did yesterday. Whether or not this is the capital city of this extinct world or not is irrelevant at this point. What _is_ relevant is the fact that there are people here, and the number of people is much higher than what we've felt for the entirety of our stay." Matt nodded and replied, "True. I can't tell _who_ these respective souls belong to, though. We could be walking into a hoard of villains, or we could be heading towards our first goal of uniting all of the heroes that were transported here." D.C.:"Well, only one way to find out..."

So, the pair of heroes marched onward, heading towards the capital city. It was another couple of hours before they were able to reach the city, and another half hour before they came to what appeared to be the remnants of a marketplace. The further they walked, the louder their 6th senses were screaming at them that people were near. They walked further into the market and, once they emerged from the alleyway there were in, they discovered that another group of people was coming from a road catacorner from the alley. The first thing that caught Matt's eye was the bright orange hair and big sword one of the people possessed; he immediately recognized the person as Ichigo. Matt:"D.C., let me do the talking; I think I know these guys. Well, not _know_ them, but you know what I mean." D.C.:"You watch too many of those shows." When Matt raised an eyebrow at him, D.C. finished is statement with, "But, I suppose that since we know that all of those characters you're so enamored with actually _exist_ somewhere, that's good thing." Matt:[Sarcastically]"So glad you agree..."

As soon as Ichigo, Saber, and Shiro entered the marketplace, they were met with a voice saying, "Nice to finally see another friendly face." Ichigo looked up to see Matt and D.C. approaching them, and he immediately drew Zangetsu in reaction. Matt:"Hey, hey, no need for that. We're unarmed, as you can see, and we mean you no harm. If anything, I think we can help each other." Saber made move for her own sword, but Shiro stopped her saying, "Wait. Let's at least hear them out." With that, Ichigo and Saber put their swords in the ground, supporting their weight on the hilts, giving Matt and D.C. their attention. Matt:"Thank you. I guess the first thing to ask is, 'You guys aren't from around here, are you?'" Shiro:"I'm guessing the same goes for you, correct?" Matt:"Yes, it does. We were pulled from the world we were in and hurled into this extinct one by a black hole that appeared suddenly." Ichigo:"Same thing happened to all four of us, so there's a lot of that going around lately. What makes you think that the world is completely extinct?" Moving his thumb back and forth between himself and Matt, D.C. replied, "Both of us have the power to sense the souls of people within a 100 mile radius of ourselves, and you three are the first people we've met or felt since yesterday. We met a woman last night, but...we didn't really get along. And wait, four of you?"

D.C. scanned the area with his ESP, trying to locate the fourth member of their group. He soon did, and she was walking up the alley behind the three of them; since they hadn't been focusing on finding her, and there were other souls in the vicinity, Matt and D.C. hadn't been able to exactly pinpoint Jun's whereabouts. Before Ichigo could reply to D.C.'s question, a hissing voice from the alley stated, "I had _good reason_ to not get along with you!" Saber and Shiro turned to see Jun walking out of the darkened alley into the day light, fury evident in her yellow eyes. Shiro:"So, Jun, you...know these guys?" Matt:"Yes. We met under...awkward circumstances." Jun growled, and pointing at Matt, then D.C. introducing them; Jun:"Yes, Shiro, I know them. Allow me to introduce you to the Beast that left me for dead, and his friend!"

Matt:[Mentally]"Dude, we can get out of this without the shit hitting the fan if we don't do anything stupid. And by 'we', I mean 'you'." D.C., of course, didn't listen to Matt's warning. He underwent his rarely used semi-transformation, causing his eyes to change to solid, dark blue, his voice became Mewtwo's, and a **Shadow Ball** formed in his left hand. He raised his left palm so it was facing Jun, and warned, "Back off, bitch." If Jun's declaration that Matt was a Beast and he'd left her for dead didn't get Ichigo and Saber's attention, D.C. threatening their ally sure did; swords were drawn and at the ready nearly before D.C. could react. Matt face-palmed and mentally screamed at D.C., "This is _**exactly**_ what I meant when I said 'Don't do anything stupid.'!"

Matt attempted to rectify the situation by saying, "D.C., let's not be too hasty. I can see, based on your immediate reaction to her statement, that Jun has told you a little bit about our first encounter." Turning their weapons towards him, Ichigo and Saber simply stated, "She told us enough." Ichigo then added forcefully, "All I need to know is that you tried to kill her and left her for dead. And now that she's here, you're planning to finish the job. Well, if you want to do that, you'll have to go through us!" Matt sighed, thinking of what he could say to not _only _convince Jun that hadn't tried to kill her, but also her new allies, who likely trusted her much more than they would him, or anything he said, at the moment. Whilst he was lost in thought, Jun rushed forward, intent on getting some payback for the Spikes of Retribution she took to the chest. Matt looked up just in time to see a very pissed Devil Lady directly in front of him; she swung with all of her might, slashing him across the face and sending him flying. When he got to his feet, he though out loud, "Well, so much for diplomacy..."

D.C. had tried to launch his charged Shadow Ball at Jun, but was forced to teleport away a few feet when Ichigo flew straight for him, in an effort to protect Jun. Once he reappeared though, D.C. shot the ball at Ichigo, who deflected it with Zangetsu. He started to charge another, but then Saber came at him from the other side. In the back of his mind, D.C. was contemplating transforming into Tera Cooler and "mind tossing" his assailants to kingdom come. But, he also respected his friend's wish for a diplomatic solution with minimal violence, but that was looking less and less like an option by the second; even if they were only recent acquaintances, the trio of heroes that he and Matt found themselves battling had made an alliance to get home, and obviously were determined to no let anything stand in their way of that goal. Convincing them that they were all involved in a long list of misunderstandings was the only way to join up with them; that thought was all well and good, but at the moment two of them wanted D.C.'s head on a silver platter, and the other, as far as D.C. was concerned, was a vengeful wench who wanted to beat his best friend to death. So, D.C. went with a temporary third option; he didn't transform, but he telekineticly threw Ichigo and Saber backwards several feet to give himself some breathing room. When the two of them landed, Ichigo and Saber looked up to see D.C. charging a Shadow Ball in each hand. The next words out of his mouth were calm, but stern; D.C.:"We didn't come here to fight. I'd rather not have to hurt you, but I'm also not going to just stand around and die. **Your choice**."

Jun waited for Matt to get to his feet before rushing him again, but she was stopped in her tracks by an earsplitting roar. Jun looked around for the source, but couldn't find anybody around, save her allies, the Beast's friend, and the Beast himself. She looked back at Matt to discover that he'd underwent his semi-transformation; his hair changed to Bowser's red mane, his skin appeared to become scalier, his teeth changed to fangs, nails became Koopa Klaws, but most startling of all was how dramatically his voice changed. Jun thought, "Something that deep and resonating should _not_ come from something so small!" Jun grew to approximately six foot one when she became Devil Lady, and towered over her prey by nearly a foot! Yet, the dramatic nature of the changes he'd undergone stupefied her, but only for moment.

Matt:"I suppose it won't do me any good to tell you that I don't want to fight with you, will it?" Jun's response was to continue to run at him, stating only a simple "No." Once she'd reached him, she slashed at him using all of her strength again, however, he simply back flipped away from her a couple of times and regained his defensive stance. Matt:"I honestly wasn't lying when I said I was sorry about shoving a dozen spikes in your chest. I..." Jun didn't let him finish, cutting him off with a screeching growl of her own before extending her wings and flying at him at top speed. All Matt could do was sigh audibly and leap to his left to dodge the incoming slash. I was only a brief moment, however, before Jun doubled back for a second attempt.

D.C. was having his own problems. While Ichigo and Saber attacked less ferociously, since despite his telekinetic abilities, D.C. was unarmed, they weren't going to let him off easily for the crimes they perceived he'd committed alongside Matt. When they came at him again, D.C. unleashed both of his Shadow Balls, but they were dodged, forcing him to teleport away the short distance of 20 feet. Ichigo:"Give up. I'm not overly fond of fighting an unarmed opponent, and your attacks haven't been doing any damage to either of us." Saber:"Indeed, you are quite outmatched. Yield and we will show mercy; we, too, do not wish to have to kill you." D.C. laughed before saying, "Well, you're correct about one thing: I _am_ outmatched at the moment, and the odds aren't in my favor. So...I'll just have to try _harder_." With these words, D.C. fully transformed into Tera Cooler, becoming what he referred to as a "diamond-ghost"; while transformed into Tera Cooler, D.C. was nearly invulnerable, due to diamond-hard skin, he could become intangible/invisible, and his telekinetic attacks were much stronger and faster. After his transformation, D.C. morphed his arm into a diamond-hard blade and taunted the other heroes with, "Ready for round 2?"

Elsewhere, Matt dodged Jun's second pass by leaping to his right, further irritating Devil Lady. She went to dive-bomb him, and was surprised to see him leaping up towards her. Matt intended to grab her by the shoulders and flip over her head, but instead what he grabbed was a bit...lower. She went backwards a bit from the impact, giving Matt the opportunity to springboard off of her, like he had intended. The second he landed, though, Matt realized that he'd used her chest instead of her shoulders; he promptly turned to Jun, and, with a hint of embarrassment, said, "Whoops..." She didn't take it _nearly _that lightly; her yellow eyes flashed with rage, and she unleashed the Electric Aura, focused through her finger as she had done to Sigma. The beam struck home, electrifying the dragonic hero. Matt:"Gaaaahh! Iiiii fooorgooot abooouuuut thaaaaaatttttt!" Matt was immediately sent sailing through the air, back towards D.C.'s direction, with electricity arching across his body as he flew.

D.C. was engaged in a more intense battle with Ichigo and Saber, but the odds were considerably more in his favor this time. His Arm Blade was proving quite effective at blocking all the incoming attacks, and with the superhuman strength his transformation granted him, he was able to easily repel his foes' attacks. Upon deflecting Saber's recent strike, he fired a **Black Ice Beam** from his left palm, which she narrowly dodged. The unlit streetlight the beam connected with was instantly frozen solid in an encasement of dark purple ice. In that moment, Saber and Ichigo became fully aware that D.C. had no intention of backing down; as far as D.C. was concerned, if "authority equals asskicking" was the only logic these other heroes understood, so be it. Ichigo slashed at D.C. again, but instead of countering, he phased out of tangibility, causing Ichigo to go right through him. D.C.:"What part of 'I don't want to kill you but I'm not backing down' didn't you get?!" Ichigo:"Heh. I heard you just fine; the problem is, that's my philosophy right now, too!" And so, Ichigo readied another swing, while D.C. smiled, thinking, "This guy is going to be great friend once we convince him we're all on the same side, but for right now, I guess I can enjoy our little spar!"

As if on cue, D.C. heard a pained "Grah!" come from behind him as Matt landed, splitting the concrete on impact. D.C. would have looked back to see how his friend was, if he didn't have a battle-focused Soul Reaper flying at him. No sooner had he parried Ichigo's attack and hurled him backwards with a left hook, than Saber flew at him, energy swirling around her invisible sword. D.C. blocked the slash, but the tornado wind that erupted from it blew him away, literally, into the side of an abandoned building, leaving an indent of the diamond-ghost in the wall. D.C.:"Nice move. Now, let me show you one of mine!" He used his **Stealth Strike** technique, disappearing from sight and teleporting behind Saber. Had she been an enemy, D.C. wouldn't have hesitated to slash her in the back, but even without D.C. deciding not too do so, Saber was "genre-savvy" enough to turn to block behind her. D.C. couldn't help but admire Saber's fighting ability, and told her as such, once he reverted to visibility.

Meanwhile, Matt regained his footing, but was still weary from the focused electrocution he'd received only a few moments before. Jun wasted no time pouncing on her weakened foe, slashing him repeatedly in the face and torso. Her assault was relentless, and one of her slashes got Matt in the throat, spewing orange blood onto the cracked road. Finally, she got him with an uppercut-slash, sending him into the second floor wall of an abandoned building, then crashing to the ground a moment later.

Back with Saber and D.C., she swung at him with a powerful slash, but he blocked it and struck her with the **Brisk Hand**. The attack could instantly paralyze a foe with telekinetic energy, but it also used his ghost powers to freeze his opponent from the inside out, causing a short-lasting, instantaneous hyperthermia. Saber promptly gasped, collapsed to the ground, and started shivering uncontrollably. D.C. knew that the hyperthermia his technique brought on would only last for about thirty seconds, so she'd be back on her feet in no time; with this thought in mind, he flew at Ichigo and slashed at him with his Arm Blade. Ichigo parried and D.C. flipped over him, landing behind Ichigo. Ichigo turned once he heard D.C. clap his hands, only to realize too late that D.C. had used his **Crystal Alchemy** to grow a hand made of crystals out of the ground and wrapped it around Ichigo's wrists, holding him in place. At this point, D.C. pointed back towards his downed friend and the woman responsible for his current state, stated to Ichigo, "Alright, Tangerine. Call the bitch off my pal, or I'll give your jaw a telekinetic curb-stomp!"

Ichigo didn't like the sound of that one bit, and using a small amount of his Spiritual Pressure to help, he broke free of the crystals, while D.C. moved further backwards, his bluff called. Ichigo:"Getsuga Tensho!" The crescent moon beam came straight for D.C., but much to Ichigo's surprise, he didn't make any attempt to dodge it. D.C. instead used his **Mirror Body** technique, using his crystalline body as a Reflector, sending the Getsuga straight back at Ichigo, with 1.5x the power! Ichigo reacted with a flash-step, only to realize that he'd been standing in line with Saber's shivering form, and worse still, Shiro had run over to help her!

The Getsuga was nearly upon them; Saber:"S..shiro! Run! Leave me!" Before Shiro could respond, he could feel himself and Saber being lifted by an invisible force and moved! D.C. used his telekinesis to move Shiro and Saber next to Ichigo, saving them from the reflected Getsuga. Upon doing so, he morphed back into his human self saying, "I give." Ichigo:"Wh..what?!" D.C.:"I said I give. Like I said before, my friend and I didn't want to fight you guys to begin with, and then our fight brought your friend, a bystander, into a dangerous situation. You seeing that we're telling the truth is not worth an innocent life." With these words, Ichigo sheathed Zangetsu, and Saber, who had recovered from the hyperthermia, reverted to her unarmored state. Ichigo:"I think we were wrong about you guys. I don't know if your friend is a Beast or not, but you guys were certainly not evil. Anybody that would risk their lives, or in our particular case, leaving themselves open to attack to save someone that has no meaning to them whatsoever, is a hero in my book." Saber and Shiro nodded in agreement. Saber:"Thank you, for saving Shiro's life. Ichigo is right; we were wrong about you." D.C. nodded before replying, "Yes, you guys were _very_ wrong about us, but we're not going to hold it against you; this isn't the first time we had to convince potential allies to trust us. That said, we'll give you guys all the details we can about what's going on, but first," he pointed towards Matt and Jun, "they need to finish their little...discussion."

Jun knew that she'd slashed Matt across the throat, and turned around to return the favor of leaving him for dead. She stopped dead in her tracks when she heard a deep, growling voice say to her, "Well, I certainly feel like a thousand Christmas trees, now." She turned to see him shakily stand to his feet, regenerating his wounds at a rate that made _hers_ seem like a turtle running a hundred yard dash. Jun:"Holy shit..." She thought she'd said it quietly enough that Matt couldn't hear, but she was proved wrong when he started to chuckle. Matt:"Yeah, I heal fast; this power alone has probably saved my skin more than any other. That, however, is beside the point. You and I have, admittedly, gotten off on a horrendous foot. Part of that _is _my fault I suppose." Jun was still slightly awestruck at Matt's regeneration rate, so she didn't charge at him just yet. Instead, she shouted back to him, "You stabbed me in the chest!"

Matt:"That notwithstanding, I've apologized repeatedly for our awkward, to put it mildly, first meeting. You heal quickly enough yourself, but I can transfer my power to other people temporarily with a drop or two of blood; I used my Blood Trick, as I call it, on you while you were unconscious after our little scuffle. I'd hoped that if you realized that I'd spared your life, you'd be more willing to talk things out in your inevitable second meeting; that, obviously, was not the case, as you seem to believe that I'd left you for dead. In truth, the exact _opposite_ occurred." Jun's eyes flaring up and her growls indicated to Matt that she still didn't believe him. Matt sighed before continuing, "I honestly am not from your world, nor am I a Devil Beast, even though my dragon blood may make me smell like it, and I most certainly have never met that demonic little bastard you think I'm working for! My friend and I truly do wish to help you and your new allies to get back to your respective worlds, and we would be more than willing to do so if you didn't keep trying to kill us!"

Jun's growling ceased a little, since even though she didn't trust Matt, she was starting to believe his words a bit. Matt:"Look, Jun, or Devil Lady, or whatever you'd like us to call you, I can't make you trust me. I have been as patient and as diplomatic as I possibly could be; however, if you continue to attack and try to kill me, I'll start fighting back **for real**, and trust me when I say 'You don't want that.'!" _That_ remark, however, she immediately took as a threat, and resumed her attack against Matt. Matt wasted no time in rumbling with irritation, before blocking her incoming claw swipe with a small amount of effort, then counterattacking. Matt:"I SAID cut THAT shit OUT!", his blows connecting at every other word; first came the iron fist to her stomach, which made her crouch down from having all the air knocked out of her. This was followed by the signature headbutt he inherited from Bowser, and he finished by picking up the stunned Devil Lady and power bombing her through the concrete!

Matt walked beside Jun's sandbagged form, returned to his normal form, and reached his right hand down to help her up. Matt:"Think about it; if I _really_ did want you dead, I could have done it after getting you through the chest, and I've had a few opportunities today as well. Instead, I'm offering you a helping hand up. Will. You. Trust. Me. Now?" Jun slowly reached up to take Matt's hand, and replied, "No, I will not trust you yet." Matt's fire-red eyes flashed with a spark of sadness, but then she finished, "Nevertheless, I believe you now when you say that you don't wish to kill me, and I accept your help in getting home." Matt's retort was a light chuckle, followed by, "Good enough for me."

Once the dust had settled, the two groups had joined together as one, and introductions were made. Matt:"Now, I know that trust isn't going to be immediate, especially considering the lot of us were beating the crap out of each other no more than a couple of minutes ago, but my name is Matt, and my friend here is called D.C." After they shook hands with their newly fire-forged allies, Ichigo and the others went through the pleasantries as well. Ichigo:"I'm Ichigo Kurosaki, this is Saber, Shiro, and I believe you are 'well acquainted' with Ms. Fudo."

Short laughs filled the circle of people, before Ichigo continued, "Alright, now that we all know we're on the same side, we need to come up with a new plan and fill each other in on what's happened thus far." Shiro:"Agreed. Saber and I came here through a black hole, like the rest of you, but as far as meeting anyone, we saw no one until we came across Ichigo. At the time, Ichigo was fighting with a...well, how do I put it..." D.C.:"Matt and I have seen just about _everything_; just tell it like it is." Shiro:"Right. He was fighting a zombie who called herself Edwina when we stepped into give him a hand." Matt:"You sure it wasn't **Deadwina**?" Ichigo:"You know her?!" D.C.:"Well, if it's who we're thinking of, we thought that she died in a fire in 1994, back in her own world; apparently, either reports of her demise were exaggerated, or her demonic possession saved her." Ichigo:"I'm guessing the latter; she told me that overtime she'd been able to overcome the demon, gaining its powers and restoring her free will. All she does now is go from graveyard to graveyard bring Hollows to life!"

Matt:"She couldn't do that before, at least not as far as we were aware; she's always a bit of thing for the undead, but she couldn't raise them herself before." Shiro pointed behind them saying, "Speaking of the undead..." They all turned to see Dirge and Nephthys approaching the market; the Xombies and Maverick Hunters were drawn to the scene by the sounds of battle that were erupting a few minutes earlier. Ichigo:"Deadwina's friends! Getsuga..." Before Matt could yell "Wait!" Ichigo finished his attack; "...Tensho!" As the crescent moon got closer to the Xombies, Ichigo was surprised to see his sword beam get blocked by a green one of equal size!

X had used the Blade Armor's Giga Attack, sending out the green sword beam, in Dirge and Nephthys's defense. After the attacks cancelled each other out, the group saw the Maverick Hunters emerge from the alley, taking stances in front of the Xombies. X switched between the Blade Armor and the **Shadow Armor**, which essentially turned him into a ninja by enhancing his agility and increasing his skill in hand-to-hand combat even further than the Blade Armor. X:"We're not here to fight, but if you want to attack our friends, you're going to have to go through us!" Ichigo was about to comply, when Matt got between the two groups. Matt:"Hey, hey, hey! We're all a little on edge right now with being sent to this foreign world in the first place! We don't need everybody 'judging books by their covers' and killing each other. Now, no one was hurt in that little outburst, so what do you say we forget that it ever happened and see if we can help each other out?"

X, ever the diplomatic one, sheathed the orange Z-Saber that came with the Shadow Armor and nodded in response. Dirge:"I'm not sure which is weirder: being accused of being friends with someone we've never even heard of or a human who _isn't _Zoe coming to our defense!" Shiro:"A _talking_ zombie...now I've seen everything!" Nephthys laughed before saying to Shiro, "It's been an interesting couple of days for everyone." "Yes, it certainly has," Shiro said back, giving a laugh of his own. Ichigo went over to Dirge and Nephthys, saying, "I owe you two an apology. The first person I met after I arrived here was a zombie woman who threatened to 'eat my soul' the next time she saw me. I reacted out of instinct, which I guess isn't always a good thing. Name's Ichigo Kurosaki, by the way."

Dirge took Ichigo's hand in his cold mitt, replying, "I'm called Dirge, and my 'sister' here is Nephthys. Our robotic pals are called X, Zero, and Axl." Now that everyone had introduced themselves, the heroes were finally all united, and began to compare notes. Jun:"Ok, so here's what we know so far. At least two creatures other than us are look for this sword everyone seems to be so interested in. We know Ichigo fought with Edwina, and I had the displeasure of facing a robot who called himself Sigma before Ichigo and Saber helped me." Zero:"SIGMA?! I thought we destroyed him for good a hundred years ago!" Axl:"I guess we didn't do quite as good of a job as we thought!" X:"The fact that he's back doesn't matter. If this sword that he and this Edwina are interested in can really give its wielder the powers of a god, then we can't let him get his Maverick mitts on it!" Jun:"I guess that makes you three the 'enemies' he spoke of to me before he tried to kill me. Yes, he said that if he found the sword, he'd become the 'god of all Reploids' and he's not going to stop looking until he finds it."

Matt:"It's a bit more dire than that. Take what we're about to tell you with a grain of salt if you wish, because it will sound unbelievable. When D.C. and I were first sent here, we were contacted by God. Yes, _that_ God. Anyway, He informed us that the sword in question, the Calibur of Courage, is sentient enough to know when people with evil in their hearts are coming for it. A demon called Mephisto, whom we've faced before, used all of his power to summon a group of villains from the various Hells across the dimensions and sent them here to retrieve the sword for him. Reacting to this, the sword made those black holes appear in each of our worlds, because _we_, whether we like it or not, are the heroes who have stomped out the villains Mephisto sent in the past, or at least have dealt with creatures like them. Sigma was sent here by Mephisto, so the Calibur called you three to stop him. Whereas Edwina, or rather, Deadwina's ghoulish nature prompted the Calibur to summon Ichigo to keep her away from it. The long and the short of it: if we don't work together to keep the villains that Mephisto sent here away from the Calibur of Courage, we can kiss our respective universes goodbye!"

X:"Let's do it." D.C.:"You don't seem too surprised..." Zero:"Well, we lived through a localized zombie apocalypse only a couple of hours after we got here. After that, we can't really deny the possibility that his story is true." Saber:"While that story is probably the most _illogical_ thing that I have ever heard, I also cannot deny the possibility, especially given all the things that we have all encountered since coming here; we have all experienced things that we've never dealt with in our own worlds, and if finding this legend is the only way to save our worlds and get home, then I say we start looking." Despite doubt being visible in everyone's eyes, each of the heroes nodded in agreement, having no alternative explanation for what had been going on. The final alliance forged in the flames of chaos had been made; now all that remained for the heroes was to seek out the villains and stop them!

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Author's Notes: I tried to make this chapter action oriented, while still moving the story along. I also make a constant effort to keep the characters true to at least their "Anime-selves", minus of course, a liberty taken here and there. If I made anybody too out of character, I apologize, but it seemed necessary. :)

Anyway, in the next chapter, which hopefully I'll post soon, the villains will start to come out of the woodwork! If you thought this part was actiony, then all Hell's about to break loose! Stay tuned!


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